What Waterdrop does

Waterdrop Inc. is a Cayman Islands-incorporated, NYSE-listed (ticker WDH) technology platform headquartered in Beijing, founded in 2016 to deliver insurance and healthcare services to Chinese consumers. The company operates six interconnected product lines: Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace (a national Internet insurance brokerage operated by Shuidi Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., offering medical, critical illness, accident, life, and annuity products including no-deductible options for substandard risk); Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding (China's leading online personal help-seeking platform, designated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in December 2024, with 494 million cumulative users facilitating RMB73.5 billion in donations to 3.75 million patients); E-Find (a digital clinical trial patient recruitment platform serving 216 pharmaceutical enterprises and CROs); Waterdrop Financial (a Hong Kong-based licensed insurance brokerage established in 2023 offering wealth management, MPF management, and risk management); Lugo Visa (a Hong Kong and overseas one-stop life services platform with five regional service centers); and Shenlanbao (an insurance evaluation and brokerage platform holding an NFRA national brokerage license).

The underlying technology stack is increasingly AI-native, anchored by proprietary tools including AI Insurance Expert (a user-facing LLM-driven consultation and recommendation product), KEYI.AI (an AI underwriting assistant), and intelligent matching systems powering E-Find and Shenlanbao. As of March 2026, Waterdrop has filed 75 LLM-related patent applications, and R&D spend reached RMB217 million per its 2024 ESG report. AI capabilities span NLP, generative AI, recommendation, knowledge retrieval, anomaly detection, and process automation, applied across insurance recommendation, underwriting automation, identity verification, and clinical trial patient matching.

Waterdrop monetizes primarily through commission-based insurance brokerage fees, which contributed RMB1,145.8 million (approximately 92% of total revenue) in Q1 2026, up 74.1% year-over-year. A rapidly scaling technical services stream delivered RMB421.0 million in Q1 2026 (up from RMB9.4 million YoY), and E-Find generated RMB24.2 million. The crowdfunding and evaluation platforms serve as organic user acquisition channels feeding insurance conversion. Marketing and traffic acquisition costs rose sharply to RMB541 million in Q1 2026, reflecting an aggressive reinvestment posture to capture the 40% full-year growth target for 2026, while the company has delivered 17 consecutive quarters of profitability since Q1 2022.

Name

Waterdrop

Legal name

Waterdrop Inc.

Website

https://waterdrop-inc.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Waterdrop is a Beijing-based, NYSE-listed technology platform operating an insurance marketplace, medical crowdfunding service, clinical trial recruitment platform (E-Find), and Hong Kong financial services (Waterdrop Financial), serving Chinese consumers seeking inclusive insurance and crowdfunding, plus pharmaceutical companies and CROs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Insurance Technology and Online Insurance Brokerage

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320), Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Payments, Collections & Credit/Delinquency Management (payment channels, dunning, write-offs) (EUANAIAE)

Keywords

• Insurance brokerage
• Medical crowdfunding
• Patient recruitment
• Wealth management
• Insurance technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Insurance-related income: Primary revenue driver from insurance brokerage and related services through Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace. Insurance-related income reached RMB1,145.8 million in Q1 2026, up 74.1% YoY, accounting for approximately 92% of total revenue. Revenue generated through insurance product commissions and brokerage fees.
2. Technical services: Technical service income surged from RMB9.4 million to RMB421.0 million year-over-year, representing insurance technology services that help partners improve operational efficiency and comply with regulatory requirements.
3. E-Find digital clinical trial platform: Patient recruitment and related services for pharmaceutical companies and CROs. Q1 2026 revenue of RMB24.2 million, up 5.4% YoY. Leverages Waterdrop's patient base and intelligent matching system.
4. Medical crowdfunding platform: Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding serves patients with serious illnesses and does not charge fees to patients or donors. Platform serves as user acquisition channel for insurance business. Has facilitated approximately RMB73.5 billion in donations from 494 million users to 3.75 million patients since 2016.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Waterdrop operates an AI-driven online insurance marketplace in China that aggregates insurance products from multiple carriers and sells them to consumers, earning commissions on each policy. Around this core, it has built a medical crowdfunding platform that helps patients raise funds for serious illnesses, an E-Find patient recruitment platform that serves pharmaceutical companies and CROs, and a Hong Kong-based wealth management and cross-border financial services business called Waterdrop Financial.

Product overview

Waterdrop is a technology platform for insurance and healthcare services operating a multi-product portfolio. The core offerings include: Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace (insurance brokerage), Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding (patient fundraising), and E-Find (clinical trial recruitment), complemented by Waterdrop Financial (wealth management in Hong Kong), Lugo Visa (life services), and Shenlanbao (insurance evaluation). AI capabilities are integrated across products through AI Insurance Expert for customer-facing insurance consultation and KEYI.AI for automated underwriting. The company is transitioning to an AI-native model, with 75 LLM-related patent applications filed as of March 2026.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace: National Internet insurance brokerage platform covering medical, serious illnesses, accident, life insurance, annuity products with inclusive insurance offerings.
• Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding
• E-Find
• Waterdrop Financial
• Lugo Visa
• Shenlanbao

Products and services

• Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace An AI-driven online insurance brokerage marketplace that aggregates insurance products from multiple carriers and sells them to Chinese consumers, serving over 100 million users.
• Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding A digital crowdfunding platform that helps patients raise funds from their social networks to cover treatment costs for serious illnesses such as cancer, serving over 880,000 crowdfunding users.
• E-Find Patient Recruitment Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• RMB73.5 billion in donations facilitated from 494 million users to 3.75 million patients
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• 216 pharmaceutical enterprises and CROscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerE-Find patient recruitment platform partners with 216 globally leading pharmaceutical enterprises and CROs to provide patient recruitment and related services for clinical trials. Leverages Waterdrop's patient base and intelligent matching system. Platform grown into leading third-party patient recruitment platform in China with exceptional competitiveness in oncology enrollment.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance: China's leading pure-play insurtech listed on HKEX, offering online insurance products through a digital platform. Closest direct peer to Waterdrop's insurance marketplace model, with similar target customer (digital-native Chinese consumers) and tech-driven distribution approach.
• Lemonade: NYSE-listed AI-native insurtech using chatbots and behavioral AI for insurance distribution and underwriting. Comparable to Waterdrop's AI Insurance Expert and KEYI.AI underwriting strategy, with similar bets on AI-native insurance economics.
• Root Inc. US insurtech using mobile-first, AI-driven underwriting and telematics for auto insurance. Comparable as a tech-native insurance challenger using AI to reinvent underwriting, mirroring Waterdrop's KEYI.AI approach in a different vertical.
• Hims & Hers Health: NYSE-listed consumer healthcare platform offering telehealth, prescription drugs, and adjacent insurance-relevant services. Comparable as a tech-driven platform serving healthcare consumers with cross-sell economics similar to Waterdrop's medical crowdfunding-to-insurance funnel.

Broad incumbents

• Ping An Insurance Group: China's largest insurance conglomerate with extensive tech-enabled distribution and Lufax/financial-services ecosystem. Represents the dominant incumbent whose scale and capital Waterdrop competes against in insurance distribution.
• Ant Group: Operator of Alipay and Xianghubao mutual insurance platform — owns the largest insurance distribution channel in China via Alipay. Represents the biggest competitive threat to Waterdrop's marketplace economics through superior user funnel and capital.
• Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company: HKEX-listed healthcare-and-insurance technology platform from the Ping An ecosystem, offering online medical consultations and health insurance. Comparable as a publicly listed Chinese insurance-healthtech platform with similar dual focus.
• Lufax Holding: NYSE-listed Chinese fintech platform originating small business and consumer loans with adjacent insurance distribution. Comparable as a US-listed Chinese financial-technology platform with cross-sell economics and similar regulatory exposure.

Emerging players

• WeDoctor: Chinese online healthcare platform offering appointments, consultations, and insurance partnerships. Comparable as a healthcare-tech platform leveraging patient data for cross-sell, similar to Waterdrop's E-Find and insurance marketplace ecosystem.

Others

• LexinFintech Holdings: NASDAQ-listed Chinese consumer finance and insurtech platform. Comparable as a US-listed Chinese fintech leveraging digital channels for financial product distribution, though with a different primary product (consumer credit vs insurance).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WaterDrop_Inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors15 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Waterdrop