The more devices are sold, the more data silos there are: Hongxun develops middleware for hemodialysis data collection.
At the site of a hemodialysis project in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, after more than 500 units of hemodialysis equipment complete data collection wiring, parameters including blood flow, arterial pressure, venous pressure, dialysate temperature, ultrafiltration volume and treatment duration during the treatment process can be collected, parsed and uploaded to the dialysis center information system in real time. The system is delivered by Changsha Wurendao Information Technology Co., Ltd. (whose proprietary hemodialysis data collection product is named "Hongxun", hereinafter referred to as "Hongxun"). Hongxun is currently seeking angel round financing, with a planned financing amount of RMB 1 million and 5% equity to be transferred.
The number of hemodialysis patients keeps growing, while devices from different brands still operate with non-uniform communication standards
The demand for hemodialysis in China is still on the rise. According to public data from the Chinese Medical Association Nephrologists Branch and other institutions, the number of patients on maintenance hemodialysis in China has increased from 234,600 in 2011 to 1.137 million in 2025, marking a nearly 4.8-fold growth. The National Health Commission disclosed in February 2026 that there are more than 8,400 medical institutions across the country capable of providing hemodialysis services, of which over 700 are township health centers and community health service centers. In 2026, 350 additional primary medical institutions will launch hemodialysis services, pushing the service coverage further down to county-level and grassroots scenarios.
Rising in tandem with the growing demand is the compliance requirement for data reporting. The former Ministry of Health has promoted medical institutions to register and report cases through the National Renal Data System (CNRDS) since 2010. The *Basic Standards and Management Specifications for Hemodialysis Centers (Trial)* issued by the former National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2016 further put forward clear requirements for patient information registration, medical document management and regular data reporting. For hemodialysis centers, the capability to collect and upload treatment data completely and stably has shifted from a "bonus item" to a "mandatory requirement".
The core difficulty lies in the device side. There are numerous brands of hemodialysis machines, and most mainstream and small-medium manufacturers adopt self-defined communication protocols and data formats. According to Hongxun's technical team, the Fresenius 4008 series uses a proprietary message format extended based on HL7 v2.3, while the B. Braun Dialog+ relies on its exclusive Connect interface, and there is no universal parsing middleware between different brands. Equipment manufacturers excel in complete machine hardware, and self-developing collection software requires large investment and long cycle; hospitals and dialysis centers are faced with problems such as high integration cost and long implementation cycle for cross-brand equipment.
The landscape of the equipment side is also changing. According to data from Bidding.com, in the domestic hemodialysis machine bidding market in the first half of 2025, Fresenius, Wego Nikkiso and Sun Yunnan Mountain together accounted for about 66% of the total market share. In September 2026, Fresenius announced that it would stop the production and sales of the 4008A hemodialysis system in China, and gradually withdraw from the peritoneal dialysis business. As foreign-funded enterprises shrink in some product lines and the share of domestic manufacturers increases, the brand and protocol landscape on the equipment side is being reshaped.
The more equipment is sold, the more data silos are formed, which is a long-standing pain point in hemodialysis informatization. Hongxun chooses to cut in from the equipment side, to solve the problem of "inaccessible data" first.
Turn protocol parsing and collection hardware into standardized products
Hongxun's products consist of two parts: software and hardware. The software side is the Hongxun data collection system, which is responsible for real-time collection, protocol parsing, data cleaning verification and standardized output of parameters throughout the whole treatment process of hemodialysis equipment, and can be connected to the dialysis center information system. In response to the fluctuation of clinical network environment, the system is equipped with local cache and breakpoint resume transmission; it also supports remote operation and maintenance and centralized management, reducing the maintenance costs for manufacturers and hospitals.
In terms of engineering implementation, this system is divided into four layers: communication layer, protocol parsing layer, field standardization layer and system interface layer. Each device has independent cache, processing packet splitting, packet sticking, disconnection and reconnection, duplicate data in serial port and TCP communication, as well as the mapping between devices and beds. Finally, the original messages returned by devices of different brands are converted into a unified field format. These seemingly trivial works determine whether the collection system can operate stably in the hemodialysis room for a long time.
On the hardware side, Hongxun self-develops network port/serial port collection modules, communication boards and other products, covering the communication interfaces of mainstream devices such as Toray TQS-88, Fresenius 4008S, and Wego DBB-EXA. Some Wego and JMS models can directly use the existing serial port or network port of the device for data collection after the model and communication configuration are confirmed, without additional purchase of the official collection box from the manufacturer; for other brands, communication boards or conversion devices are added according to interface conditions.
Compatibility is the core of this solution. Up to now, Hongxun has adapted to mainstream models of more than ten brands including Gambro, B. Braun Dci, Fresenius 4008S/5008, Welkon, Nipro, JMS, Toray TQS-88, Wego, Bellco, Sun Yunnan Mountain and Osa. Each time a new model is added, repeated verification of communication protocols, data fields and abnormal conditions is required, so the protocol library becomes an engineering asset that needs long-term accumulation.
The 541 sets of equipment in the Shaoyang project is a large-scale verification of this capability. According to the company, this project has completed the whole process delivery from collection hardware deployment, on-site wiring to system joint debugging, verified the stability of the product in multi-device and complex on-site environment, and formed a replicable implementation process. Next, Hongxun plans to further expand model coverage in the V5.0 version, add support for open interconnection standards such as HL7 and FHIR, and build cloud-based data quality control capabilities.
Do not sell directly to departments, but act as the "in-house data collection department" behind equipment manufacturers
Hongxun's target customers are not dialysis centers, but hemodialysis machine manufacturers that lack self-developed collection software, especially domestic, small and medium-sized and OEM manufacturers. The company provides these manufacturers with a complete solution of "collection software + hardware + technical support", which is then delivered to hospitals by manufacturers along with the equipment, forming a B2B2B chain of "hemodialysis machine manufacturer - Hongxun - dialysis center". For manufacturers, completing the collection capability means that the equipment can smoothly connect to the central system and reporting platform; for dialysis centers, it reduces the integration cost of cross-brand equipment.
This positioning avoids direct competition with informatization manufacturers targeting the department side. Manufacturers including Inforemed, Ruijian Medical Information, Huamo and Yingdi Xinkang mainly provide overall information systems for dialysis centers, some products come with collection boxes, but their customer targets and delivery logic are all on the department side; solutions from international manufacturers such as Fresenius TDMS and B. Braun NEXADIA only cover their own equipment, with relatively closed ecology. Standing behind equipment manufacturers, Hongxun focuses on the cross-brand and lightweight collection layer, which can form complementarity with the department-side systems.
Revenue is also generated around equipment installation. The company currently has four types of revenue: model adaptation/development licensing fee, with a reference price of about RMB 100,000 per model; collection hardware sales, about RMB 1,000 to 4,000 per set; software licensing by unit, about RMB 800 to 1,000 per unit per year; and technical service fees including installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance and training, about RMB 60,000 per year (for each manufacturer). The first two categories contribute current cash flow, and the latter two form recurring revenue as the number of installed units on record increases.
According to the company's plan, it will sign 8 cooperative manufacturers, accumulate 1,400 installed units and achieve break-even in the next 18 months. In terms of customer acquisition, Hongxun mainly relies on industry exhibitions, manufacturer channel cooperation, old customer referrals and regional business agents, giving priority to covering regions with concentrated hemodialysis industry and medical resources such as the Yangtze River Delta, Hunan and Hubei. This round of financing is planned to raise RMB 1 million, transfer 5% of equity, corresponding to a post-investment valuation of RMB 20 million. 35% of the funds will be used for software R&D and multi-model adaptation, 25% for supporting hardware stocking and proofing, 20% for market expansion, and 20% for team operation.
In terms of team, Hongxun was founded in 2020, located in Changsha, with a registered capital of RMB 1 million, and the legal representative is Yang Shiqi. Founders Yang Shiqi and Wang He have long been engaged in hemodialysis equipment data collection and project delivery, with Yang Shiqi in charge of R&D and Wang He in charge of marketing and project delivery; hardware engineer Liu Chenyu is responsible for hardware R&D. According to the company, the core members of the team have development experience in hospital hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis systems and LIS/HIS interfaces, are familiar with clinical data fields and reporting standards, and have long been dealing with communication protocols of multi-brand equipment.
The data collection of hemodialysis equipment is not a brand-new track, but there has long been a lack of a role that spans different brands and is willing to stand behind equipment manufacturers. For Hongxun, the large-scale projects that have been put into operation and the protocol accumulation of more than ten brands are its chips to enter this niche; whether it can hold its position between the self-development of manufacturers and the collection boxes of department-side manufacturers depends on the iteration speed of the protocol library, and whether the installed scale can be converted into sustainable service revenue as soon as possible.