Songbai Investment: Get involved and be the industry's 'worker' 二维码
发表时间：2021-12-10 18:37 
As of December 2020, Songbai has successively acquired controlling stakes in dental brands such as Angelalign, Neoss Implants, Purgo Biologics, Songbai Dental, Huizhou Stomatological Hospital, and Heyuan Hengxin Stomatological Hospital both domestically and internationally. It has also reached strategic investments or strategic partnerships with companies such as Carestream Dental, New Huaguang Dental, Henglun Dental, Moore Dental, Aierchuang, JD Health, BEGO Implant System (Germany), and Medit (Korea). Songbai Investment is widely regarded as the largest "investment industry group" in the dental field. In 2020, Songbai was thrust into the spotlight by an interview with Caijing magazine titled "Investment or Industry Building: What Game is Songbai Investment Playing?" At the end of 2020, Songbai Investment and JD Health officially announced a strategic cooperation across the entire industry chain. This news attracted a lot of attention in the industry. The entry of an internet giant into the dental field is always closely watched by both inside and outside the industry, especially for JD Health (stock code: 6618), which had just been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  JD Health's entry into the dental market, given its strong platform and clear logistics advantages, should logically involve close collaboration with upstream and downstream industry partners. Why then has it chosen an investment company as its strategic partner? For a time, people inside and outside the industry secretly speculated: What "extraordinary qualities" does Songbai have that have allowed it to stand with the newly entered internet giants and form a "divine duo"? In reality, Songbai has stated on multiple public occasions that it is an "industry builder." However, many people still don't quite understand this phrase, because most people unconsciously focus on its capital logic. So, what does Songbai mean by "industrial builders"? What exactly is it? Before writing this article, the team had been tracking the Songbai case for over half a year. From its industry logic and core team to the details of its execution... during the debriefing meeting, they ultimately cited a popular internet term from 2020: "working class".  The term "working class" evolved into a phenomenon in 2020, where "everyone self-proclaimed themselves as working class." Behind what appears to be self-deprecating and comforting expressions lies the dismantling of the "workplace hierarchy of contempt." It represents a new consensus across all industries, levels, and tiers regarding professional identity: it turns out that regardless of whether you are upstream, midstream, or downstream; whether you are an office worker, salesperson, entrepreneur, or investor... we are all "working people," possessing passion and unwavering courage. Even though life repeatedly knocks us down every day, we still strive forward and find joy in it. It's just that Songbai is a "working class" We need to work across the entire industry chain. Since there's fog on the window, wipe it clean.
2020 was an extremely unusual year, putting many projects in a dilemma. But for Songbai, who had been with the company for five years, it was a "bumper year". We investigated the key events of Songbai this year: covering multiple dental brands at home and abroad, and also quietly working on digital construction and industry talent training, with some projects occurring during a period of overall industry downturn. When Songbai invests in the dental industry, it's often a significant bet.  Data source: Public information compilation & company surveys | Good Teeth Drawing If we analyze the situation further: Songbai's "bet" on dentistry is not a small investment, and its contrarian "bet" during this special period is quite remarkable. Upstream product technology expansion: We have teamed up with Aierchuang, a leading domestic repair material company, and also introduced cutting-edge foreign products and technologies; The midstream distribution system has been improved: more than 10 new distribution brands have been integrated, promoting the informatization and digitalization of distribution. Downstream investment in medical terminals: The addition of regional chain brands in Shanxi and Guangdong will continue to contribute to the development of regional medical services. We are taking a two-pronged approach across the entire region: "standing alongside" internet giants and "cultivating talent both internally and externally" in the industry. Looking back at Songbai's efforts over the past five years: each entry into the market is not a simple, independent event—upstream materials, equipment, and imaging; midstream digitalization and distributors; downstream Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and clinic medical services... Most of the companies involved are industry collaborators of a certain scale, almost all of which are leading companies in a certain niche market or local areas. When Songbai first entered the dental industry, it took small, slow steps. However, as its understanding of industry cycles and the characteristics of various global markets improved, its industrial development experienced a period of rapid growth after a period of preparation. The overseas acquisitions in the latter half of last year—technology, products, talent—were almost all targeted solutions developed after a thorough understanding of the industry's pain points. While countries may have borders, technology, products, and talent have no borders. Wherever there's a gap, we'll "fill it" there. So, after five years of meticulous work and dedicated support, Songbai's "dental industry development" puzzle has become increasingly complete, gradually forming the current cluster of industrial projects.  Data source: Public information compilation & company surveys | Good Teeth Drawing
Why do we also call Songbai, which seems to have a "big family and big business", a "working class"? The popular memes and jokes about "working class" are like cheesy pickup lines for oneself, lacking the inspirational sentiments of highbrow poetry but offering more practical hints. While eliminating identity barriers, they also eliminate unrealistic fantasies.  These portraits and implications of the "working class" – clarity, innovation, and pragmatism – are something we can see in Songbai. 1 | Songbai Dental Clinic's "Workers' Group" In its fourth year working in the dental industry, Songbai began to invest heavily in building its midstream business, establishing a distribution platform—Songbai Dental—bringing together top distributors from various provinces. This centralized the previously fragmented distribution network in the industry, addressing efficiency issues. This move enabled Songbai, a "working-class" company, to become a channel "cooperative" with dental brand manufacturers and a service "cooperative" with oral healthcare institutions. Songbai attaches great importance to this "workers' group". During the overall downturn in the first half of last year, distributors at all levels had a particularly tough time. Songbai partnered with China Merchants Bank to launch the "Leading Bank Gold" project, a special loan for the oral health industry, to support distributors and promote the overall recovery of the oral health industry.  Data source: Compiled from publicly available information | Good Teeth Drawing 2 | [Good morning, digital] At the end of last year, Songbai, which has years of experience in digital healthcare and management, and JD Health took the lead in launching a full-industry chain collaboration to jointly explore the digital upgrade of the industry. In this way, the digitalization of the dental industry has broken through the "talking from afar" and is moving towards "collaborative symbiosis".  JD Health & Songbai Investment Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony for the Entire Oral Health Industry Chain Although digitalization has already been applied in the field of dentistry, it is mostly manifested in the dimension of explicit technologies. However, it still requires a certain amount of accumulation to leap to the stage of connecting the upstream, midstream and downstream, interconnecting everything, and realizing a closed loop of synergistic dental medical services between the real world and the digital world. Therefore, when working people say "Good morning," it's an expression of anticipation for a new day, and also an acceptance of the unknown. Songbai's exploration of industrial digital upgrading may have a clear direction and value, but it's also fraught with unknowns. The risks are unknown, the returns are unknown. However, the allure of the unknown also implies possibility—infinite possibility. Thinking about this move, it does show quite a bit of "daring". 3 | "Roll up your sleeves and get to work" The creators reviewed the talents that Songbai has recruited over the years: there are practicing dentists, second-generation dentists, and veterans who have been in the dental field for many years in management, as well as cross-industry people from IT, technology, finance and taxation... So people in the industry were once privately curious: why is there no investment analyst in Songbai Investment? This is quite interesting: Songbai doesn't seem to be making investments, but rather doing "real business," engaging in these seemingly foolish things like "hoarding food," yet they are full of enthusiasm. They went so far as to acquire controlling stakes in hospitals and build their own, directly addressing the shortage of dental professionals in education. Here are two examples: In July 2020, the Huizhou Stomatological Hospital Teaching Center was officially handed over, marking the first large-scale oral simulation head model training room in eastern Guangdong to be put into use.  Image source: Songbai Elite Club In October 2020, we jointly organized the "Dental Industry CFO 2020 Training Camp" with the Private Dental Medical Branch of the Chinese Stomatological Association.  Image source: Songbai Elite Club 4 | The ever-awake "working class" There's a consensus in the industry: dentistry is definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme. Therefore, you need to cultivate your skills diligently and stay clear-headed. Therefore, "working class" is not a culture of despair, but a culture of awakening. A company's clear-headedness often stems from its top-level strategic vision. The two founders of Songbai, Feng Dai and Huang Kun, were indeed clear-headed and composed. A senior colleague from Huaxi once privately remarked, "Songbai is a group of capable people."  Feng Dai, co-founder of Songbai
 Huang Kun, co-founder of Songbai | Image source: Songbai Elite Club Huang Kun: A top graduate in finance from Tsinghua University, he began his career in private equity investment in 2007, joining Orchid Asia and Warburg Pincus, and is well-versed in the development trends of the healthcare industry. Prior to that, he worked at KPMG and United Credit Suisse China Investment. I recalled another senior dentist with many years of experience, speaking of Songbai: "Why do I admire Songbai and its people? First of all, they truly understand that dentistry offers returns over an extremely long period, yet they resolutely chose to invest heavily, which is already worthy of respect within the industry. I have also tried to persuade many investors to look into this sector, taking them to professional exhibitions and explaining the industry logic to them. In the end, they said they understood, but they would just observe from the sidelines."
Songbai describes its development path as that of an industrial group, aiming for long-term industrial development. This statement is almost akin to a vow to have a marathon-like relationship with the industry before finally walking happily down the aisle. Based on the development data of relevant industrial groups that I have reviewed, there are many successful cases worldwide, but these are often decades-long corporate development histories. However, there is very little research on the main players in China's healthcare industry ecosystem, and even less on the domestic dental industry. If one had to briefly explain the future or prospects of this industry ecosystem, it could be summarized in the following lines of poetry: / When the roots are deep enough in the soil That means its past was enormous. Large as a tree canopy You won't fall into a storm / "So, I say the name 'Pine and Cypress' isn't a very good choice. You see, it's not a name that promises overnight riches; they're destined to have a long road ahead." A while ago, when I was chatting with some senior figures in the industry about pine and cypress trees, we made quite a few jokes about the name. But then again Although everyone in the industry enters the field differently—some companies use industrial development, some use technology, some use education, and some use media—if every practitioner in the industry can take a broader perspective and look towards the distant future, allowing for experimentation and multi-dimensional collaboration, we will ultimately arrive at the same destination. If we say that Songbai represents the "working class" of the industry... Aren't we all just "working people" in our respective industries? Why not extend your right hand and make a friend? The term "working class" has transformed from a "self-perception" into a "group identity." In sociology, this is called social identity: it refers to an individual's knowledge about their belonging to a social group and the emotional and value-based significance they derive from their group membership. Author: Yao Guang, Chi Mei Wang Liang Planning: TING | Editing: Ayao Layout: Xiaxia | Visuals: Halo Proofreader: CC | Producer: YUE   
【好的牙】内容基于公开资料与专业判断，供行业参考，不构成决策建议，读者需自行判断与承担风险；
版权归属本平台，未经授权不得转载或商用。
如需勘误 / 投稿 / 合作，请联系客服微信：HDSW_001
|
✉️
订阅我们的
新闻通讯
我们精心整理重要新闻与独家洞察，第一时间直达您的收件箱。
独家资讯、独家数据、独家故事
  |