Hair transplant robot, raised tens of millions

Is there any hope for my hair?

Recently, surgical robot developer Bangkece (Shanghai) Intelligent Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Bangce Medical") completed its Pre-B round of financing. It is reported that the amount raised in this round reached tens of millions of RMB, led by Hefei Venture Capital, followed by Yongjie Fund and Yuefu Fund.

Founded in 2019, Bangce Medical has completed six rounds of financing so far, and has disclosed a financing amount of over 100 million yuan. Well-known institutions such as Lenovo, Bosch, Shenzhen Capital Group, Wuxi Industrial Development Venture Capital, Weihai Kunyu Gemini Venture Capital, and Shanghai Songjiang Venture Capital have also participated in the investment and bet on surgical robots.

Hair is related to personal image, and for many people, "baldness" is a rather embarrassing thing.

However, due to factors such as increased life pressure and irregular work and rest, the problem of hair loss has gradually spread to more age groups. According to statistics from the National Health Commission, more than 250 million people in China suffered from hair loss in 2022, but the number of hair transplant surgeries was only about 630,000, with a penetration rate of only 0.25%, which is far behind other medical beauty projects.

As the pace of social life accelerates and self-image awareness increases, more and more people are beginning to pay attention to hair health issues, and the huge potential of the hair transplant market is constantly being released.

However, traditional hair transplant surgery presents many challenges.

First of all, a hair transplant operation can easily cost tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan. Regardless of whether most people have a strong willingness to consume "cosmetic services" such as hair transplants, the high cost of the operation is an "iron threshold" that keeps many patients out.

In addition, manual hair transplantation requires extremely high professional skills and precision in operation. The 5-8 hours of high-intensity operation will cause double overdrafts on vision and physical strength, which also increases the error rate.

In addition, there are still many uncertainties in existing hair transplant surgeries, such as the completeness rate of hair follicle extraction and the survival rate of transplantation, which will affect the final effect.

These problems have hindered the large-scale promotion of hair transplantation, and the shortage of supply has made the industry passive. The intervention of robotics is trying to change this situation.

Hair transplant robots can greatly improve the quality and efficiency of hair transplant surgery by accurately identifying hair, efficiently extracting and planning transplantation. Compared with traditional surgery, their higher precision can also reduce postoperative complications, increase the survival rate of hair follicles, and have the advantages of less trauma, less bleeding, and faster recovery.

At the same time, as technology continues to improve, robots will significantly reduce the cost of hair transplantation, which will inevitably release a large amount of suppressed demand in the industry and bring expected growth momentum to the hair transplantation market.

As a leading surgical robot company in China, it has built the most complete third-generation hair transplant robot product line under development in China, covering the entire process of hair transplant diagnosis and treatment.

The first generation of hair transplant robot HAIRO? independently developed by the company is tailored for the hair characteristics of Asians. It uses stereoscopic vision recognition technology to accurately identify hair, uses algorithm planning to control the robot arm to extract hair follicles, and also integrates robot force protection and patient movement tracking functions to ensure that the operation is efficient, accurate and safe.

The second-generation hair transplant robot, Normanrobo?, has achieved a greater breakthrough based on HAIRO?. It integrates extraction and transplantation in one, which improves efficiency while reducing the risk of hair follicles being lost or damaged in the two links.

The third generation HAIROL? has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of volume, flexibility and long hair extraction technology, providing patients with the option of hair transplantation without shaving their heads, thus avoiding the “awkward period” of traditional surgery.

Although it will take some time for commercialization to be realized, Bangce Medical has achieved phased breakthroughs in early incubation, product development, and clinical trials.

On November 23, 2023, the HAIRO? hair transplant robot independently developed by Bongce Medical successfully completed the enrollment of the last patient in the clinical trial at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, becoming the first hair transplant robot in China to complete all clinical trial enrollment work, bringing new expectations to the entire industry.

According to clinical data, with the assistance of robots, the operation time is shortened, the overall extraction speed is improved to a certain extent, and the patient experience is good.

Currently, hair transplant robots are changing the industry development model from passive supply to active guidance, from "seeking users" to "creating demand" by reducing costs, improving efficacy and improving experience, giving birth to a huge blue ocean market.

Standing at the forefront of change, hair transplant robots need to break out of conventional thinking, be bold in innovation and change, and comprehensively build a new ecology and business model in order to truly occupy the commanding heights of the industry and achieve high-quality development.