Technology is changing the world, and the application of AI technology may accelerate the arrival of the grand vision of “changing the world.”
Recently, the “Godfather of AI” Hwang In-hoon declared in various public forums that “AI+ medical systems/biology” is the next shocking revolution to be ushered in in the field of technology. “The future of life science will be as highly engineered as traditional industries. When data science, artificial intelligence, and automation are combined, biology will improve exponentially, making it the next golden track.” This statement not only set off a boom in artificial intelligence and AI medicine in the capital market, but also made investors set their sights on companies that already have a forward-looking layout in this field.
Although China has made significant progress at the hardware level, it is not good at the software level, so much so that software companies are easily temporarily ignored by the market due to their commercial implementation and monetization process.
In November 2021, as a leading AI medical imaging company, Eagle Eye Technology listed on the Hong Kong stock market as the “first AI medical stock”. CEO Zhang Dalei expressed his hope that in the future, through continuous efforts to reduce hardware costs, eventually, Eagle Hitomi products can enter families, and directly transform Eagle Eye's services from medical, professional, and million-grade equipment to household medical devices that everyone can use and can afford.
Now, in combination with Hwang In-hoon's remarks, judging from the latest financial report of Eagle Hitomi Technology, this beautiful vision is accelerating its progress from ideal to reality.
In the future, with the continuous development and in-depth application of AI technology, we have reason to believe that companies such as Eagle Hitomi Technology will launch a real revolution in the medical field, allowing more people to enjoy advanced, convenient, and efficient medical services.
1. The commercialization of the three major sectors is accelerating, and an inflection point in performance is showing
The core focus of the development of the AI medical industry is the progress of commercialization. Judging from the company's latest financial report, qualitative changes have already begun.
In 2023, Eagle Hitomi Technology achieved revenue of 204 million, a year-on-year increase of 79.5%, and achieved gross profit of 125 million, a year-on-year increase of 124%, and a gross margin increase of 12.2% to 61.3%, reflecting the company's continuous improvement in performance while continuing to improve its profitability.
This means that the company's early technological investment is being converted into commercialization results at an accelerated pace, and the company's profitability continues to be unleashed. The inflection point in performance that investors have been waiting for for a long time is beginning to appear.
As an AI medical imaging company, Eagle Hitomi Technology has three main core sectors: Eagle Eye Healthcare, Eagle Eye Health, and Eagle Eye Health.
All three sectors achieved significant growth in 2023: Eagle Eye Healthcare achieved revenue of 85 million yuan, up 200% year on year, mainly due to expanding retinal testing business to more hospitals and primary care institutions; Eagle Eye Health achieved revenue of 44 million, up 6.1% year over year, mainly due to increased revenue from pharmaceutical companies and overseas business; Eagle Eye Health achieved revenue of 75 million, a sharp increase of 72% year over year, mainly due to enhanced optometry chain coverage and continuous deepening of integrated diagnosis and treatment services to strategically expand products and services to post-screening treatment.
Therefore, it can be summed up that the revenue growth in the company's core sector is mainly due to the implementation of various strategies to fill gaps in the layout of primary medical institutions, overseas expansion, and extension of products and services to the diagnosis and treatment side.
At the same time, the acceleration of commercialization of Eagle Hitomi Technology is also reflected in the rapid growth in the number of customers, service outlets, and tests.
In 2023, the number of the company's customers increased from 397 in 2022 to 673 in 2023, up 69.5% year on year; active service outlets increased from 2,371 to 5,671, up 139.2% year on year; a total of 6.83 million tests were carried out throughout the year, an increase of 58.1% year on year.
In addition, primary medical institutions such as rural medical and health institutions and community hospitals are places where medical AI can exert the greatest value, and continuing to strengthen primary care has also become one of the company's important measures to accelerate commercialization.
In 2023, the company sold AirDoc-aifundus (1.0) to hospitals and primary care institutions, and there was a significant increase in the number of outlets and tests. The number of active outlets covered by hospitals reached 276, an increase of 527.3% over the previous year; the number of tests reached 242,000, an increase of 197.5% over the previous year. The number of active outlets covered by primary medical institutions reached 1,221, an increase of 1,271.9% over the previous year; the number of tests reached 635,000, an increase of 640.2% over the previous year.
Looking forward to the future, as the company continues to expand sales channels, explore downstream application scenarios, and continue to strengthen the primary care market, Eagle Hitomi Technology's revenue scale is expected to further expand and achieve profit goals.
II. Globalization is beginning to bear fruit
In recent years, the company has actively deployed global business and has made initial business progress in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and Malaysia.
In 2023, the company's revenue from overseas reached 9.2 million, accounting for 4.5% of total revenue during the reporting period.
In the past two years, the company's core product, AirDoc-aifundus (1.0), and the company's portable fundus camera have successfully obtained regulatory approval and registration from various international market-related agencies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Specifically, AirDoc-aifundus (1.0) has obtained regulatory approval or registration in Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia, and AI-FUNDUSCAMERA-P has obtained regulatory approval or registration in Indonesia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Thailand.
In 2023, AirDoc-aifundus (1.0) was once again certified by the EU Medical Device Regulation (CE MDR), enabling the company's products to officially enter the markets of 27 EU member states, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, etc.; at the same time, the company's AI-FUNDUSCAMERA-P and myopia treatment products won the “Special Commendation Gold Award” at the Geneva International Invention Exhibition in April 2023, and received widespread recognition and recognition among global inventions and professionals.
The above progress and recognition in internationalization has further opened up a wider market space for the company.
3. Actively embrace AI healthcare and continue to launch new products
AI medicine has become a development trend in the pharmaceutical industry. As a leader in AI medical imaging, Eagle Hitomi Technology continues to increase investment in R&D and innovation, upgrade existing product lines, and help implement AI technology into practical application.
Eagle Hitomi Technology's product portfolio is rich and diverse. In the past, the company launched a product portfolio covering retinal AI testing and diagnosis software, health risk assessment solutions, and artificial intelligence hardware devices to create an integrated solution.
In 2023, the company once again achieved remarkable innovation results, obtaining 87 new patents and 82 software copyrights, further enhancing its ability to innovate in the field of medical artificial intelligence.
In order to promote a full range of services from detection to diagnosis and treatment, the company launched eye health treatment and management products for myopia, strabismus, and amblyopia, including AI products for myopia prevention and control, and AI products for visual training. The results are beginning to show.
Among them, the number of myopia prevention and control AI products used reached 893,300, and the number of service users reached 14,000; the number of training times for visual training AI products reached 918,400, the number of home training service users reached 13,000, and the number of in-hospital training service users reached 81,000. Moreover, AI products for visual training have covered more than 800 hospitals across the country;
In addition, the company also carried out in-depth cooperation with AI Cambrian to successfully deploy diabetic retinopathy auxiliary diagnosis software and follow-up algorithms on the Beijing Haidian District Government Affairs Cloud. This innovative initiative has established a new AI regional primary care screening, follow-up, and referral model based on thanks from 29 community health service centers in Haidian District, providing residents with more convenient and efficient medical services.
At the same time, the company's AI algorithm model also showed excellent performance in the field of cardiovascular disease risk assessment. After strict internal and external verification, its high accuracy was confirmed. In addition, the technology also helped with early screening and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, and was included in the first Alzheimer disease specialty insurance product in China, providing more comprehensive protection for patients.
Eagle Hitomi has worked closely with several medical institutions to develop and validate a model based on deep learning, which can automatically identify new blood vessels in fundus images and screen for hyperthyroidism. The results of this study have been published in top journals and are the world's first non-invasive diagnostic method.
Looking ahead to 2024, the company's AI-FUNDUSCAMERA-M product has completed the development stage and is applying for registration. The product is expected to have the ability to detect a wider range of diseases, which is expected to bring new performance growth points to the company and inject new vitality into the development of the entire medical industry.
epilogue
Judging from the company's financial performance, the company's revenue scale showed a strong growth trend and gross profit increase. Looking forward to the future, with the widespread application of AI medical technology and the acceleration of the company's commercialization strategy, a profit inflection point is expected to appear in the near future.