Healthcare Reform – Startups in China
Few weeks ago, I wrote on China being the next Silicon Valley and the potential of new business models being incubated that is specific to the Chinese market – well saw this interesting article on TechCrunch “Healthcare Reform, Chinese Startup Style” – Seems like business model that is specific to China is starting to sprout and taking shape in China.
Meiloo.com – founded by Yan Zhang, is a website that helps Chinese Internet users find, source and compare doctors and hospitals for elective surgery. Elective health care services are a $10 billion a year market in China that already heavily advertises on TV, billboards and the Web. Meiloo.com aggregates the contents as well as provide an online booking facility for doctors/hospitals. In return for marketing their services to the broad consumer base, doctors and hospitals actually pay Meiloo a cut of the surgery fees. Yan Zhang leveraged on the distribution power of the Internet channel to reach out to the large population of consumers that choose to search online for information and book their surgery at the convenience of their home.
Although not a huge population will jump onto the bandwagon of booking elective surgery online, the ability to capture just 1 – 2 % of the consumer market in China is already mind boggling (CTrip taps less than 10% of the domestic travel market and is a multi-billion company). Meiloo is growing transactions at a pace of 15%-25% per month, and has helped book nearly $1 million US dollars in transactions in the last twelve months.
Would definitely not be surprise to hear of more success stories and original business model sprouting out of China as more and more business and individual starts to embrace the online channel.
