Form 20-F 111, Inc. For: Dec 31

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 20-F

(Mark One)

Date of event requiring this shell company report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the transition period from                       to                        

Commission file number: 001-38639

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

*         Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing on The Nasdaq Global Market of American depositary shares.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the Issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

As of December 31, 2018, there were 163,088,106 ordinary shares outstanding, par value US$0.00005 per share, being the sum of 91,088,106 Class A ordinary shares and 72,000,000 Class B ordinary shares.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

o Yes   x No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

o Yes   x No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

x Yes   o No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

o Yes   o No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. x

†      The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012. Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

o Item 17   o Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

o Yes   x No

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.

o Yes   o No

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INTRODUCTION

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all information in this annual report reflects the following:

·                  “1 Clinic” refers to our internet hospital;

·                  “1 Drug Mall” refers to our online wholesale pharmacy;

·                  “1 Drugstore” refers to our online retail pharmacy;

·                  “ADSs” refer to American depositary shares, each of which represents two Class A ordinary shares;

·                  “China” or the “PRC” refers to the People’s Republic of China, excluding, for the purposes of this annual report only, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan;

·                  “GMV” refers to the total value of all orders shipped for products sold under our direct sales model, net of returns, plus the total value of all orders shipped for products sold on our marketplace by our marketplace sellers, inclusive of returns, during the specified period;

·                  “marketplace sellers” refer to third-party merchants on our 1 Drugstore and 1 Drug Mall, which include distributors and resellers that sell products through our online retail pharmacy or online wholesale pharmacy under our marketplace model;

·                  “medical professionals” refer to doctors, pharmacists and medical assistants;

·                  “New Retail” refers to the seamless integration of our online retail pharmacy and offline pharmacy network by leveraging our smart supply chain and cloud-based solutions to improve the efficiency throughout the value chain;

·                  “pharmaceutical companies” refer to manufacturers of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products;

·                  “pharmacies” refer to independent pharmacies, pharmacy chains and in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals;

·                  “RMB” or “Renminbi” refers to the legal currency of China;

·                  “shares” or “ordinary shares” refers to our ordinary shares comprising Class A and Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00005 per share;

·                  “SKU” refers to stock keeping unit;

·                  “smart supply chain” refers to a supply chain built upon a technology infrastructure that is designed to analyze massive amounts of data to facilitate the customization, productivity and efficiency needed in the New Retail era. Our smart supply chain consists of multiple components, including our fulfillment infrastructure, cloud-based inventory management and our supply chain management;

·                  “suppliers” refer to distributors and pharmaceutical companies from whom we source our products for our direct sales model;

·                  “U.S. GAAP” refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States;

·                  “US$,” “U.S. dollars,” “$,” or “dollars” refers to the legal currency of the United States; and

·                  “we,” “us,” “our company,” “our,” or “111” refers to 111, Inc., its subsidiaries, and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial information, our variable interest entities in China.

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of current or historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

You can identify these forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

·                  our goals and strategies;

·                  our future business development, financial condition and results of operations;

·                  expected changes in our revenues, costs or expenditures;

·                  our expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our services;

·                  competition in our industry; and

·                  government policies and regulations relating to our industry.

We would like to caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and you should read these statements in conjunction with the risk factors disclosed in “Item 3D. Key Information—Risk Factors.” Those risks are not exhaustive. We operate in a rapidly evolving environment. New risks emerge from time to time and it is impossible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.

PART I

Item 1.           Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 2.           Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3.           Key Information

A.            Selected Financial Data

The following selected consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018 and selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 and 2018 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included in this annual report beginning on page F-1. The following selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are not included in this annual report.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods. You should read the selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes in conjunction with “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.

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(1)         Share-based compensation expenses are allocated in operating expense items as follows:

B.            Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C.            Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

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D.            Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We are subject to extensive and evolving regulatory requirements, non-compliance with which, or changes in which, may materially and adversely affect our business and prospects.

Due to the complex nature of our business, we are subject to legal and regulatory requirements of multiple industries in the PRC. These industries primarily include internet, healthcare, internet healthcare and pharmaceutical retail and wholesale industries.

Various regulatory authorities of the PRC government are empowered to promulgate and implement regulations governing broad aspects of the internet and healthcare industries. In respect of the healthcare industry, in particular, any violation of the relevant laws, rules and regulations may result in harsh penalties and, under certain circumstances, lead to criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, the regulations of both the internet industry and its internet healthcare sector are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainty. As a result, under certain circumstances, it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions would be deemed in violation of applicable laws and regulations. These uncertainties entail risks that may materially and adversely affect our business prospects. Due to the uncertainty and complexity of the regulatory environment, we cannot assure you that future laws and regulations would not render our operations non-compliant or that we would always be in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Compliance with future laws and regulations may require us to change our business models and practices at an undeterminable and possibly significant financial cost. These additional monetary expenditures may increase future overhead, which may, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, the introduction of new services and products may require us to comply with additional, yet undetermined, laws and regulations. Compliance may require obtaining appropriate permits, licenses or certificates as well as expending additional resources to monitor developments in the relevant regulatory environment. The failure to adequately comply with these future laws and regulations may delay, or possibly prevent, some of our products or services from being offered to users, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The pharmaceutical retail and wholesale industry in China is subject to extensive government regulation and supervision as well as monitoring by various government authorities. Certain other laws, rules and regulations may affect the pricing, demand and distribution of pharmaceutical products, such as those relating to procurement, prescription and dispensing of drugs by hospitals and other medical institutions, retail pharmacy, government funding for private healthcare and medical services, and the inclusion of products in the drugs catalogs for national basic medical insurance, on-the-job injury insurance and maternity insurance promulgated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China, or the MOHRSS. In addition, the pharmaceutical manufacturing, pharmaceutical distribution, pharmaceutical retail, healthcare services and medical device industries in China are each subject to extensive and changing government regulations and supervision. Any unfavorable regulatory changes in these industries may also increase our compliance burden and materially and adversely affect our business, profitability and prospects.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to compete effectively in the PRC general health and wellness market, and we may fail to sufficiently and promptly respond to rapid changes in government regulations, treatment of diseases and customer preferences.

The PRC general health and wellness market is highly competitive. Our key competitors include pharmaceutical retail companies including traditional offline pharmacies, and online platforms, as well as B2B platforms and traditional pharmaceutical distributors, and companies that offer internet healthcare services. These companies may have substantially greater financial, technical, research and development, marketing, distribution, retail and other resources than we do. They may also have longer operating histories, a larger customer base or broader and deeper market coverage. Furthermore, when we expand into other markets, we will face competition from new competitors, domestic or foreign, who may also enter markets where we currently operate.

In addition, many operators in the healthcare industry have consolidated in recent years to create larger healthcare enterprises with greater bargaining power, which has resulted in greater pricing pressures. If this consolidation trend continues, it could give the resulting enterprises even greater bargaining power, which may lead to further competitive pressure. New partnerships and strategic alliances in the healthcare industry also can alter market dynamics and adversely impact our businesses and competitive positioning.

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The technologies that we and our competitors employ are evolving rapidly, and new developments frequently result in price competition, product obsolescence and altered market landscape. Any significant increase in competition may have a material adverse effect on our revenue and profitability as well as on our business and prospects. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continually distinguish our products and services from our competitors’, preserve and improve our relationships with various participants in the healthcare value chain, or increase or even maintain our existing market share. We may lose market share, and our financial condition and results of operations may deteriorate significantly if we fail to compete effectively.

We may not be able to manage the growth of our business and our expansion plans and operations or implement our business strategies on schedule or within our budget, or at all.

Our business has become increasingly complex in terms of both the type and scale of our operations. Any expansion may increase the complexity of our operations and place a significant strain on our managerial, technological, operational, financial and human resources. We recently launched our online wholesale business and various value-added services, including online consultation services, cloud prescription services and data services. Our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our future operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively manage our growth or to implement all these systems, procedures and control measures successfully. If we are not able to manage our growth effectively, our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We are also continually executing a number of growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans designed to enhance our business, including launching various new services utilizing the latest big data and AI technologies. The anticipated benefits from these efforts are based on assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate. Moreover, we may not be able to successfully complete these growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans and realize all of the benefits that we expect to achieve or it may be more costly to do so than we anticipate. If, for any reason, the benefits we realize are less than our estimates or the implementation of these growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans adversely affect our operations or cost more or take longer to effectuate than we expect, or if our assumptions prove inaccurate, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, we may seek and pursue opportunities via joint ventures or strategic partnerships for expansion from time to time, and we may face similar risks and uncertainties as listed above. Failure to properly address these risks and uncertainties may materially and adversely affect our ability to carry out acquisitions and other expansion plans, integrate and consolidate newly acquired or newly formed businesses, and realize all or any of the anticipated benefits of such expansion, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have incurred operating losses in the past, and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

We began our operations in 2012 and we experienced net loss in the amount of RMB363.4 million, RMB249.3 million and RMB382.0 million (US$55.6 million) in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. We expect our operating costs and expenses to increase in the future in absolute terms as we expand our operations. We may also incur additional legal, accounting, and other expenses as a public company. If our revenue does not grow at a greater rate than our expenses, we will not be able to achieve and maintain profitability. We may incur significant losses in the future for various reasons, many of which may be beyond our control. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, operating delays, or other unknown factors that may result in losses in the future. If our cost of sales and expenses continuously exceed our revenue, our business may be materially and adversely affected and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

Our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses are subject to a variety of risks, which may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to certain risks in our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses, including:

·                  inability to successfully execute effective advertising, marketing and promotional programs necessary to maintain and increase awareness of our brands, products and services;

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·                  failure to implement effective pricing and other strategies in response to market competition;

·                  inability to respond to changes in demand and preferences of pharmacy customers and consumers in a timely manner;

·                  inability to stock an adequate supply of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products that meet the demand of our pharmacy customers and consumers;

·                  overall consumer spending on healthcare in China;

·                  inability to obtain and maintain regulatory or governmental permits, approvals and clearances, or to pass PRC government inspections or audits; and

·                  the risk of, and resulting liability from, any contamination, injury or other harm caused by any use, misuse or misdiagnosis involving products distributed by us.

The occurrence of any such risks in our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses may damage our overall business and reputation, and may have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our business generates and processes a large amount of data, and the improper use or disclosure of such data could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.

We generate and process a large amount of personal, transaction, demographic and behavioral data including medical records and other personal information. We face risks inherent in handling large volumes of data and in securing and protecting such data. In particular, we face a number of data-related challenges related to our business operations, including:

·                  protecting the data in and hosted on our system, including against attacks on our system by external parties or fraudulent behavior by our employees;

·                  addressing concerns related to privacy and sharing, safety, security and other factors; and

·                  complying with applicable laws, rules and regulations relating to the collection, use, disclosure or security of personal information, including any requests from regulatory and government authorities relating to such data.

Regulatory requirements regarding the protection of such data are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, making the extent of our responsibility in that regard uncertain. Under certain regulations, rules and measures promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, or the MIIT, since 2011, any collection and use of a user’s personal information by an internet services provider must be subject to the consent of the user, abide by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity, and be within the specified purposes, methods and scopes. The internet services provider must keep all information collected strictly confidential and is prohibited from divulging, tampering with or destroying any such information, or selling or providing such information to other parties. In particular, the Cyber Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Cyber Security Law, which took effect on June 1, 2017, is formulated to maintain network security, safeguard the cyberspace sovereignty, national security and public interests, protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and further enhance personal information protection, such as through requirements on the collection, use, processing, storage and disclosure of personal information. Furthermore, in August 2018, the SCNPC promulgated the E-Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the E-Commerce Law, to regulate the e-commerce activities conducted within the territory of the PRC, which further strengthens the protection of consumers’ personal data and privacy. Since the Cyber Security Law, E-Commerce Law and relevant regulations, rules and measures are relatively new, there are uncertainties as to the interpretation and application of these laws and regulations, and it is possible that our data protection practices are or will be inconsistent with regulatory requirements. Any violation of the provisions and requirements under the Cyber Security Law, E-Commerce Law and other relevant regulations, rules and measures may subject us to warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of licenses, suspension of business, shutting down of websites or even criminal liabilities. Complying with such requirements could cause us to incur substantial expenses or to alter or change our practice in a manner that could harm our business. Any systems failure or security breach or lapse that results in the unauthorized release of our user data could harm our reputation and brand and, consequently, our business, in addition to exposing us to potential legal liability.

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Our privacy policies and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of user data are posted on our mobile app. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our privacy policies or with any applicable regulatory requirements or privacy protection-related laws, rules and regulations could result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others. These proceedings or actions may subject us to significant penalties and negative publicity, require us to change our business model or practices, increase our costs and severely disrupt our business, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our failure to properly manage various participants in our ecosystem may materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on various participants, including, but not limited to, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, marketplace sellers and medical professionals, in the provision of services and products in our ecosystem, and the success of our business depends on our ability to properly manage them.

We consider a variety of factors before entering into contractual arrangements with them. Nevertheless, we have limited control over the quality of work and performance of our ecosystem participants in their provision of services and products over our website and mobile platform or otherwise, and they may breach such contractual arrangements and subject us to claims and liabilities that may affect our business operations.

We have also implemented quality control standards and procedures to manage their work and performance in our ecosystem. However, there can be no assurance that our monitoring of their work and performance will be sufficient to ensure the quality of their work. In the event that a third party fails to meet our quality and operating standards contracted in our agreements or as required by relevant PRC laws and regulations, our operations may suffer and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, because of the contractual relationships, we could be perceived as responsible for the actions of such participants and, as a result, suffer reputational damage. This may adversely affect our ability to attract new pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals and marketplace sellers, and to engage them as providers within our ecosystem.

Any lack of requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business, or any non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations, may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to governmental supervision and regulation by various PRC governmental authorities including, but not limited to, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, or MOFCOM, the MIIT, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China, or the NHFPC, which was restructured and integrated into the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, or the NHC, China Food and Drug Administration, or the CFDA, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, or the SAIC, which was, together with the CFDA, integrated into the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, and the corresponding local regulatory authorities. Such government authorities promulgate and enforce laws and regulations that cover a variety of business activities that our operations concern, such as provision of internet information, online medical services, online and offline retail, sales and online operation of pharmaceutical products and medical devices, sales of food, and internet advertisement, among other things. These regulations in general regulate the entry into, the permitted scope of, as well as approvals, licenses and permits for, the relevant business activities.

In addition to obtaining necessary approvals, licenses and permits for conducting our business, we must comply with relevant laws and regulations. Our businesses, such as online and offline pharmaceutical retail and wholesale distribution and online healthcare services, are subject to various and complex laws and regulations, extensive government regulations and supervision. We may not be fully informed of all and new requirements under relevant laws and regulations in a timely manner, and even if we become aware of new requirements, due to uncertainties in their interpretations and implementation, it will be difficult for us to determine what actions or omissions would be deemed as violations of applicable laws and regulations. We may also not be able to respond to evolving laws and regulations and take appropriate action in time to adjust our business model. As a result, we may be in violation or non-compliance with such laws and regulations.

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In particular, under the Administrative Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Circulation of Pharmaceuticals promulgated by the CFDA in 2007, a company is prohibited from selling prescription drugs to consumers without prescription, via internet or by post. A company in violation of such prohibitions will be instructed to rectify, given a disciplinary warning, and/or imposed an administrative penalty of no more than RMB30,000 per violation. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview— Regulations— Regulations Relating to Online Operation of Drugs and Medical Devices.” In the past, we had received disciplinary warnings and administrative penalties due to certain non-compliance incidents in relation to prescription drugs sales. We have adjusted our sales model and relevant functions of our online platforms in response to such warnings and penalties. However, it remains uncertain that our sales model and online platforms as adjusted are and will be in full compliance with the relevant laws and regulations, which are evolving and subject to changes. In addition, due to the complexity of our IT system, its potential errors, or human errors, mistakes or misconduct by our offline retail pharmacies, we cannot assure you that we can fully comply with and meet the requirements under all laws and regulations related to the sale of prescription drugs. Any failure to comply with such laws and regulations could materially and adversely affects our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Due to the uncertainties in the regulatory environment of the industries in which we operate, there can be no assurance that we have obtained or applied for all the approvals, permits and licenses required for conducting our business and all activities in the PRC, or that we would be able to maintain our existing approvals, permits and licenses or obtain any new approvals, permits and licenses if required by any future laws or regulations. If we fail to obtain and maintain approvals, licenses or permits required for our business, or to comply with relevant laws and regulations, we could be subject to liabilities, fines, penalties and operational disruptions, or we could be required to modify our business model, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may become subject to product liability and medical liability claims, which could cause us to incur significant expenses and be liable for significant damages if not covered by insurance.

We are exposed to risks inherent in marketing, distributing and selling pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products and providing online healthcare and medical services in China. Claims, customer complaints or administrative penalties may arise if any of our products are deemed or proven to be unsafe, ineffective or defective, or they are found to contain illicit substances. We may also be subject to allegations of having engaged in practices such as improper filling of prescriptions, distribution of counterfeit and substandard medicines, or providing inadequate warnings or insufficient or misleading disclosures of side effects.

In addition, in the event that any use or misuse of the products we distribute results in personal injury, suicide or death, product liability claims may be brought against us for damages. If we are unable to defend ourselves against such claims, among other things, we may be subject to civil liabilities for physical injury, death or other losses caused by our products, to criminal liabilities, and to the revocation of our business licenses. In addition, we may be required to suspend sales or cease sales of the relevant products.

We face risks of medical liability claims against our in-house medical team, external doctors and us. We only carry insurance covering medical malpractice claims for our in-house doctors and some of our external doctors. Adequate professional malpractice insurance coverage may not be available to our in-house medical team, external doctors or us in the future on commercially acceptable terms, or at all.

Any claims made against us that are not fully covered by insurance could be costly to defend against, result in substantial damage awards against us and divert the attention of our management and our in-house medical team and external doctors from our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.

Failure to maintain optimal inventory levels and assortment of products could increase our operating costs or lead to unfulfilled customer orders, either of which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We need to maintain optimal inventory levels in order to operate our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses successfully and to meet the demands of pharmacy customers and consumers. We manage inventories of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products under our direct sales model, while marketplace sellers manage inventories of their products. We are exposed to inventory risk as a result of rapid changes in product life cycles, changing consumer preferences, uncertainty of product developments and launches, manufacturer back orders and other vendor-related problems, as well as the volatile economic environment in China. We cannot assure you that we will accurately predict these trends and events and avoid over-stocking or under-stocking of products. Furthermore, demand for products could change significantly between the time when the products are ordered and the time when they are ready for delivery. When we begin to sell a new product, it is particularly difficult to forecast product demand accurately.

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As our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses carry a wide range of products and maintain significant inventory levels for a substantial portion of our merchandise, we may be unable to sell such inventory in sufficient quantities or during the relevant sales seasons. While we did not have any net write-downs of our inventories to their net realizable value in 2016, 2017 and 2018, inventory levels in excess of customer demand may result in inventory write-downs, expiration of products or an increase in inventory holding costs and a potential negative effect on our liquidity.

Conversely, if we underestimate customer demand, or if our suppliers fail to provide products to us in a timely manner, we may experience inventory shortages, which may, in turn, result in unfulfilled customer orders, leading to a negative impact on our customer relationships. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain proper inventory levels for our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale operations, and any such failure may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We closely monitor the inventory levels of other products of which our marketplace sellers manage inventories. However, there can be no assurance that our monitoring and related measures will be effective in ensuring fulfillment of our customers’ orders at our online retail pharmacy and online wholesale pharmacy. Our failure to maintain proper inventory levels for our retail and wholesale businesses may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Third-party logistics and delivery companies are used to fulfill and deliver orders placed on our platform. If these logistics and delivery companies fail to provide reliable delivery services, our business and prospects, as well as our financial condition and results of operations, may be materially and adversely affected.

We leverage our large-scale operations and reputation to enter into contractual arrangements with a number of third-party delivery companies to deliver our products to our pharmacy customers and consumers. We may also use third-party service providers to ship products from our fulfillment centers to delivery stations or to deliver bulky item products. Interruptions to or failures in these third parties’ delivery services could prevent the timely or proper delivery of our products to pharmacy customers and consumers. These interruptions may be due to events that are beyond our control or the control of these delivery companies, such as inclement weather, natural disasters, transportation disruptions or labor unrest. We may not be able to find alternative delivery companies to provide delivery services in a timely and reliable manner, or at all. If products are not delivered in proper condition or on a timely basis, our business and reputation could suffer.

Our self-developed technologies are complex and may contain undetected errors or may not operate properly, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our self-developed technology platform provides our consumers and other participants in our ecosystem with the ability to conduct a variety of actions essential to the operations of our business and the delivery of our solution. Technology development is time-consuming, expensive and complex, and may involve unforeseen difficulties. We may encounter technical obstacles, and it is possible that we may discover additional problems that prevent our technologies from operating properly and consequently adversely affect our information infrastructure and other aspects of our business where our technologies are applied. If our solution does not function reliably in terms of performance, we may lose existing, or fail to attract new participants to our platform, which may damage our reputation and adversely affect our business.

Moreover, data services, supply chain management systems, and other proprietary technologies we provide to pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and other customers are complex and those we offer may develop or contain undetected defects or errors. Material performance problems, defects or errors in our existing or new software and applications and services may arise in the future and may result from interface issues between our systems and data that we did not develop and the function of which is beyond our control or undetected in our testing. These defects and errors, and any failure by us to identify and address them, could result in loss of revenue or market share, diversion of development resources, harm to our reputation and increased service and maintenance costs. Defects or errors may discourage existing or potential customers from utilizing our solution. Correction of defects or errors could prove to be impossible or impracticable. The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors may be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Defects or errors may also affect our pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies or other customers who rely on our self-developed technologies in the operation of their businesses, which may have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and prospects.

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We may be subject to penalties or disputes against us for failure to manage the multi-institution practices of our in-house medical team and external doctors.

The practice of doctors is strictly regulated under PRC laws, rules and regulations. Doctors who practice at medical institutions must hold practicing licenses and may only practice within the scope of their licenses and at the specific medical institutions as stated in their licenses. A doctor is required to register the medical institutions at which he or she practices in his or her license. If a doctor is found practicing at a medical institution not registered in his or her license, the doctor would be subject to regulatory penalties, from warning to suspension of practice and, in the worst-case scenario, revocation of licenses. A doctor practicing in multiple institutions must apply to register or file with competent in-charge administrative authorities and can only have the right to prescribe medicine at the registered or filed practicing institution. If the doctor issues a prescription in a medical institution not registered in his or her license, the relevant medical institution would also be subject to regulatory penalties, including a fine of up to RMB5,000 and, in the worst-case scenario, revocation of the medical institution’s Practicing License for Medical Institutions.

We cannot assure you that our in-house and external doctors will complete the registration and relevant government procedures in a timely manner, or at all, or that our in-house and external doctors will not practice outside the permitted scope of their respective licenses. Our failure to properly manage the registration of our in-house doctors may subject us to administrative penalties against our medical institution, including fines, or, in the worst-case scenario, revocation of our Practicing License for Medical Institutions, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business. Meanwhile, if our in-house and external doctors are found to have deficient registration or found to be practicing beyond the scope permitted by relevant authorities, they may be disciplined and lose their practicing licenses. In the event that the multi-institution practices of our in-house and external doctors are in breach of their contractual obligations owed to other institutions, such as non-compete obligations, we may be exposed to indemnity or other legal liabilities if we are deemed to have aided in these breaches, and are therefore susceptible to legal disputes and potential damages. As a result, we may no longer be able to employ them in offering our online consultation services, which could materially and adversely affect our business. In addition, there can be no assurance that we could timely find qualified replacements on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We regard our trademarks, copyrights, patents, domain names, know-how, proprietary technologies, and similar intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on a combination of intellectual property laws and contractual arrangements, including confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties, to protect our proprietary rights. Despite these measures, it is often difficult to enforce intellectual property rights in China. Even where adequate laws exist, certain procedural issues create effective obstacles to the proper enforcement of intellectual property rights. In addition, the available remedies in both court proceeding and through administrative enforcement are often inadequate to address infringement or to provide intellectual property rights holders with full compensation for the losses caused. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce confidentiality undertakings in China. In addition any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated, or such intellectual property may not be sufficient to provide us with competitive advantages. In addition, although we are not aware of any copycat websites or mobile apps that attempt to cause confusion or traffic diversion from us at the moment, we may become an attractive target to such attacks in the future because of our brand recognition.

In addition, there can be no assurance that our patent applications would be approved, that any issued patents would adequately protect our intellectual property, or that such patents would not be challenged by third parties or found by a judicial authority to be invalid or unenforceable.

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We may be subject to allegations, lawsuits and administrative penalties relating to the sale, distribution, marketing and advertising of counterfeit or substandard products in our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses, which may damage our brand and reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and business prospects.

Certain products distributed or sold in the pharmaceutical retail and wholesale markets in China may be manufactured without proper licenses or approvals and/or fraudulently mislabeled with respect to their content and/or manufacturer. These products are generally referred to as counterfeit or substandard pharmaceutical products. The current counterfeit and substandard product regulation control and enforcement system in China is not sufficiently mature to completely eliminate the manufacturing and sales of counterfeit pharmaceutical products. Counterfeit and substandard pharmaceutical products are generally sold at lower prices than authentic pharmaceutical products, and, in some cases, are very similar in appearance to the authentic pharmaceutical products. Therefore, the presence of counterfeit products of pharmaceuticals distributed or sold by us can quickly erode our sales volumes and revenue for the relevant products.

Furthermore, counterfeit or substandard products may or may not have the same chemical composition as the authentic counterparts, which may make them less effective than the authentic ones, entirely ineffective, or more likely to cause severe adverse side effects. We may not be able to identify those counterfeit or substandard products we source from our suppliers. Any unintentional and unknowing sales of counterfeit or substandard products in our pharmaceutical distribution or retail businesses, or sales of counterfeit and substandard products by third parties illegally using our brand names, may subject us to negative publicity, fines and other administrative penalties, or even result in litigation relating to the sale, marketing and advertising of those products. Moreover, the continuing presence of counterfeit and substandard products may reinforce the negative image of distributors and retail pharmacies among consumers in general, and may severely harm the reputation and brand names of pharmaceutical companies, including ourselves. Similarly, consumers may buy counterfeit and substandard products that are in direct competition with products distributed or sold in our pharmaceutical retail and wholesale businesses, which may materially and adversely affect the sales volumes of the relevant products in our portfolio and further impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we fail to provide satisfactory customer experience and continue to increase our retail and wholesale customer base, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our business is highly dependent on the receptiveness of our pharmacy customers and consumers to our services and products as well as their willingness to use, and to increase the frequency and extent of their utilization of, our solution. Their degree of receptiveness to our services and products depends on a number of factors, including the demonstrated accuracy and efficacy of our offerings compared to those of others, turnaround time, cost-effectiveness, convenience and marketing support. In addition, negative publicity concerning our solution or the internet healthcare market as a whole could limit market acceptance of our solution, especially that of the online consultation services. Meanwhile, there can be no assurance that our efforts and ability to demonstrate the value of our solution and the relative benefits of our services and products over those of our competitors to our pharmacy customers and consumers would be successful. If we fail to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by our pharmacy customers and consumers of our services and products, or if our solution does not drive their engagement, then our business may not develop as expected, or at all, and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

The success of our business also hinges on our ability to provide satisfactory customer experience, which depends on our ability to continue to deliver quality care to our users, to maintain the quality of our services and products, to source services and products that are responsive to customer demands, and to provide timely and reliable delivery, flexible payment options and satisfactory after-sales services. Such ability, in turn, depends on a variety of factors beyond our control. In particular, we rely on a number of third parties in the provision of our services and products. Their failure to provide a high-quality customer experience to our pharmacy customers and consumers may adversely affect our pharmacy customers’ and consumers’ receptiveness of, and willingness to utilize our solution, which may damage our reputation and cause us to lose pharmacy customers and consumers.

In addition, we operate a customer service center to provide assistance to our pharmacy customers and consumers. If our customer service representatives fail to provide satisfactory service, or if waiting times are too long due to high volume of inquiries from customers at peak times, our brand and customer loyalty may be adversely affected. Moreover, any negative publicity or poor feedback on our customer service may harm our brand and reputation and, in turn, cause us to lose pharmacy customers and consumers and market share.

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The failure of in-house medical team and external doctors to provide adequate and proper service to consumers may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our in-house medical team, external doctors and other employees, may provide sub-standard services, mishandle sensitive information, engage in other misconduct or commit medical malpractice, which could subject us to medical liability claims. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation may be materially and adversely affected if any such claims are made against us in connection with these actions that are not fully covered by insurance. See “—We may become subject to product liability and medical liability claims, which could cause us to incur significant expenses and be liable for significant damages if not covered by insurance.” With respect to external doctors, as they often work remotely, we have limited control over them as well as the quality of their online medical consultation services. There can be no assurance that our risk management procedures will be sufficient to monitor their performance and control the quality of their work. In the event that the external doctors fail to comply with the contractual obligations and applicable laws in relation to the provision of our online consultation services, our user experience could deteriorate, and we may suffer as a result of any actual or alleged misconduct by them, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.

The failure of our marketplace sellers to control the quality of products they sell on our platform, or to make timely and accurate delivery of their products sold on our platform, may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Under the direct sales model, we manage inventories in an integrated process. Under our marketplace model, many of our marketplace sellers use their own facilities to store their products and utilize their own or third-party delivery systems to deliver their products to our pharmacy customers and consumers, which makes it difficult for us to ensure that our pharmacy customers and consumers get consistent quality products and services for all products sold through our online platforms. If any marketplace seller fails to control the quality of the products that it sells on our platforms, or if it does not deliver the products or delivers them late or delivers products that are materially different from their description, or if it sells counterfeit or unlicensed products through our platforms, or if it does not possess requisite licenses or permits as required by relevant laws and regulations despite our online background check for such licenses or permits on the marketplace seller, the reputation of our retail and wholesale pharmacy and our brand may be materially and adversely affected and we could face claims and may be held liable for damages in connection with such claims.

Any disruption to the operation of our current fulfillment facilities, or to the development of our new facilities, could reduce or negatively impact sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on our fulfillment centers for the continuing operation of our pharmaceutical distribution business. Natural disasters or other unanticipated catastrophic events, including power interruptions, water shortage, storms, fires, earthquakes, terrorist attacks and wars, as well as changes in governmental planning for the land underlying these facilities, could significantly impair our ability to operate our business and destroy any inventory located in these facilities. In addition, our fulfillment centers that meet the requirements of modern logistics operations for guaranteed storage safety, optimal and flexible space utilization and high operational efficiency are in short supply. We may not be able to replace these facilities and equipment in a timely manner, should any of the foregoing occur.

Furthermore, the leases for our fulfillment centers and our use thereof could be challenged by third parties or government authorities, which may cause interruptions to our business operations. Certain lessors of our leased fulfillment centers have not provided us with their property ownership certificates or any other documentation proving their right to lease those properties to us. If our lessors are not the owners of the properties and they have not obtained consents from the owners or their lessors or permits from the relevant government authorities, our leases could be invalidated and we may have to renegotiate the leases with the owners or the parties who have the right to lease the properties, and the terms of the new leases may be less favorable to us. Also, certain of our leasehold interests in leased properties have not been registered with the relevant PRC government authorities as required by PRC law, which may expose us to potential fines. Although we are not aware of any claims or actions being contemplated or initiated by government authorities, property owners or any other third parties with respect to our leasehold interests in or use of such properties, we cannot assure you that our use of such leased properties will not be challenged. In the event that our use of leased properties is successfully challenged, we may be subject to fines and forced to relocate the affected operations. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to find suitable replacement sites on terms acceptable to us on a timely basis, or at all, or that we will not be subject to material liability resulting from third parties’ challenges on our use of such properties.

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Our wide variety of accepted payment methods subjects us to third-party payment processing-related risks.

We accept payments using a variety of methods, including payment on delivery, bank transfers, online payments with credit cards and debit cards issued by major banks in China, and payment through third-party online payment platforms. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and lower our profit margins. We may also be subject to fraud and other illegal activities in connection with the various payment methods we offer, including online payment and cash-on-delivery options. We also rely on third parties to provide payment processing services. We use third-party couriers to deliver all of the orders. The delivery personnel of our third-party couriers collect payments on our behalf if our customers opt for the payment-on-delivery option, and we require the third-party couriers to remit the payment collected to us on the following day. If these companies fail to remit the payment collected to us in a timely fashion, or at all, if they become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us, or if their service quality deteriorates, our business could be disrupted. We may also be subject to fraud and other illegal activities in connection with the various payment methods we offer, including online payment and cash-on-delivery options. Although we rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, we are also subject to various rules, regulations and requirements, regulatory or otherwise, governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we fail to comply with these rules or requirements, we may be subject to fines and higher transaction fees and lose our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from our pharmacy customers and consumers, process electronic funds transfers or facilitate other types of online payments, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Any damage to the reputation and recognition of our brand names, including negative publicity against us, may materially and adversely affect our business operations and prospects.

We depend on our reputation and brand names in many aspects of our business operations. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain a positive reputation or brand name for all of our products in the future. Our reputation and brand names may be materially and adversely affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

·                  adverse associations with the third party-branded products we sell or which are sold in our stores or on our platform, including with respect to their efficacy or side effects;

·                  lawsuits and regulatory investigations against us or otherwise relating to our products or industry;

·                  improper or illegal conduct by our employees, retail and wholesale pharmacies and third-party promoters, that is not authorized by us; and

·                  adverse publicity associated with us, our products or our industry, whether founded or unfounded.

Any damage to our brand names or reputation as a result of these or other factors may cause our products to be perceived unfavorably by pharmacies, doctors, regulators and consumers and the existing and prospective employees, retail and wholesale pharmacies and third-party promoters, and our business operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected as a result.

Our business may be materially and adversely affected by adverse news, scandals or other incidents associated with the PRC general health and wellness industry.

Incidents that reflect doubt as to the quality or safety of pharmaceutical products manufactured, distributed or sold by other participants in the PRC general health and wellness industry, particularly the internet healthcare industry, including our competitors, have been, and may continue to be, subject to widespread media attention. Such incidents may damage the reputation of not only the parties involved, but also the general health and wellness industry in general, even if such parties or incidents have no relation to us, our management, our employees, our suppliers, our distributors or our retail pharmacies. Such negative publicity may indirectly and adversely affect our reputation and business operations. In addition, incidents not related to product quality or safety, or other negative publicity or scandals implicating us or our employees, regardless of merit, may also have an adverse impact on us and our reputation and corporate image.

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If our risk management and internal control system is not adequate or effective, and if it fails to detect potential risks in our business as intended, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We have established our internal control system, such as an organizational framework and, policies and procedures that are designed to monitor and control potential risk areas relevant to our business operations. However, due to the inherent limitations in the design and implementation of our internal control system, our internal control system may not be sufficiently effective in identifying, managing and preventing all risks if external circumstances change substantially or extraordinary events take place.

Furthermore, our new business initiatives may give rise to additional internal control risks that are currently unknown to us, despite our efforts to anticipate such issues. If our internal control system fails to detect potential risks in our business as intended or is otherwise exposed to weaknesses and deficiencies, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our risk management and internal controls also depend on effective implementation by our employees. There can be no assurance that such implementation by our employees will always function as intended or such implementation will not involve any human errors, mistakes or intentional misconduct. If we fail to implement our policies and procedures in a timely manner, or fail to identify risks that affect our business with sufficient time to plan for contingencies for such events, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected, particularly with respect to the maintenance of our relevant approvals and licenses granted by governments.

We may experience failures in our information technology system, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend heavily on our information technology system to manage our business processes, to record and process our operational and financial data, and to provide reliable services. We have built secure, stable and scalable IT infrastructure. However, our information technology system may fail due to natural disasters or failures of public infrastructure, our information technology infrastructure or our applications software systems that are wholly or partially beyond our control. Any material disruption to the operation of our information technology system could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our failure to address these problems could result in our inability to perform, or delays in our performance of, critical business operational functions, loss of key business data, or our failure to comply with regulatory functions, which could materially and adversely affect our business operations and customer service.

We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our mobile applications or website, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

In addition to our website, we also offer healthcare products and services through our mobile applications, which are regulated by the Administrative Provisions on Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, or the APP Provisions, promulgated by the CAC, on June 28, 2016 and effective on August 1, 2016. According to the APP Provisions, the providers of mobile applications shall not create, copy, publish or distribute information and content that is prohibited by laws and regulations. We have implemented internal control procedures screening the information and content on our mobile applications to ensure their compliance with the APP Provisions. However, we cannot assure that all the information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our mobile applications complies with the requirements of the APP Provisions at all times. If our mobile applications were found to be violating the APP Provisions, we may be subject to administrative penalties, including warning, service suspension or removal of our mobile applications from the relevant mobile application store, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

We rely on assumptions and estimates to calculate certain key operating metrics, and inaccuracies in such metrics may harm our reputation and adversely affect our business.

Certain key operating metrics in this annual report are calculated using our internal data that have not been independently verified by third parties. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable calculations for the applicable periods of measurement, there are some challenges in measuring those metrics, such as GMV and repurchase rate. In addition, our key operating metrics are derived and calculated based on different assumptions and estimates, and you should be cautious of such assumptions and estimates when assessing our operating performance.

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Our operating metrics may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly titled metrics used by our competitors due to differences in data availability, sources and methodology. If third parties do not perceive our user metrics to be accurate representations of our user base or user engagement, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our operating metrics, our reputation may be harmed and third parties may be less willing to allocate their resources or spending to us, which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Some pharmaceutical products offered by us are subject to price restrictions and will continue to be subject to price competition in China, but may be pending on changes of the regulations.

Some of our pharmaceutical products were subject to government price controls in the form of fixed retail prices or retail price ceilings and periodic downward adjustments imposed by National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, and other authorities. Pursuant to the Notice Regarding the Opinion on Facilitating the Pharmaceutical Pricing Reform jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, the NHFPC and five other PRC government agencies in May 2015, the price ceilings imposed by the PRC government on pharmaceutical products other than narcotic and Class I psychotropic drugs were lifted on June 1, 2015, and these products would be subject to a more market-based pricing system adopted by medical insurance bureaus and relevant authorities.

Even prior to the lifting of government price controls on pharmaceutical products, the prices of prescription drugs in China had been determined by the centralized tender process and the prices of OTC drugs in China had been determined by arm’s-length, commercial negotiation and market factors such as brand recognition, market competition and consumer demand. There is no assurance that the application of the more market-based pricing system will result in a higher product pricing compared to the government-controlled pricing, as competition from other retailers and wholesalers, particularly those offering the same products but with lower prices, may force us to lower our sales prices to the previous government-controlled price levels. Consequently, our profitability may suffer and our business, financial condition and results of operations may also be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal controls to remediate our material weakness over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of the ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

Prior to our initial public offering in September 2018, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which we address our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audits of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness and one significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The material weakness that has been identified relates to our lack of sufficient competent financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate understanding of U.S. GAAP to design and implement formal period-end financial reporting controls and procedures, to address complex U.S. GAAP technical accounting issues, and to prepare and review our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC.

Following the identification of the material weakness, the significant deficiency and other control deficiencies, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remedy these control deficiencies. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address these deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, and we cannot conclude that they have been fully remedied. Our failure to correct these control deficiencies or our failure to discover and address any other control deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our financial statements and impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could significantly hinder our ability to prevent fraud.

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We are a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, will require that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Generally, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of the ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions.

Competition for employees is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain the qualified and skilled employees needed to support our business.

We believe our success depends on the efforts and talent of our employees, including medical professionals, risk management, software engineering, financial and marketing personnel. Our future success depends on our continued ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain qualified and skilled employees. Competition for highly skilled technical, risk management and financial personnel is extremely intense. We may not be able to hire and retain these personnel at compensation levels consistent with our existing compensation and salary structure. Some of the companies with which we compete for experienced employees have greater resources than we have and may be able to offer more attractive terms of employment.

In addition, we invest significant time and expenses in training our employees, which increases their value to competitors who may seek to recruit them. If we fail to retain our employees, we could incur significant expenses in hiring and training new employees, and the quality of our services and our ability to serve various participants in the pharmaceutical value chain could decline, resulting in a material adverse effect to our business.

Our business depends on the continued efforts of our senior management. If one or more of our key executives were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, our business may be severely disrupted.

Our future success depends heavily upon the continued services of our senior executives, key research and development personnel and key sales and marketing personnel. We rely on the expertise and experience of our founders, Dr. Gang Yu and Mr. Junling Liu, especially in areas of supply chain management and e-commerce. Our research and development team is critical to the development of proprietary technologies used by our online and offline, retail and wholesale businesses, and realization of the potential benefits of our intellectual property. In addition, success in the distribution of our products depends on the dedication and skills of our sales and marketing personnel. Accordingly, our ability to attract and retain key personnel is a critical factor in our competitiveness. Competition for these individuals could require us to offer higher compensation and other benefits in order to attract and retain them, which could increase our operating expenses and, in turn, materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to attract or retain the personnel required to achieve our business objectives, our business could be severely disrupted.

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We do not maintain key-person insurance for members of our management team. If we lose the services of any senior management, we may not be able to identify suitable or qualified replacements, and may incur additional expenses to recruit and train new personnel, which could severely disrupt our business and prospects and prolong our expansion strategies and plans. Furthermore, if any of our executive officers joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose a significant number of our existing pharmacy customers and consumers and potentially lose our substantial research and development achievements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may from time to time become party to litigation, other legal or administrative disputes and proceedings that may materially and adversely affect us.

In the course of our ordinary business operations, we may become a party to litigation, legal proceedings, claims, disputes or arbitration proceedings from time to time. Any ongoing litigation, legal proceedings, claims, disputes or arbitration proceedings may distract our senior management’s attention and consume our time and other resources. In addition, even if we ultimately succeed in such litigation, legal proceedings, claims, disputes or arbitration proceedings, there may be negative publicity attached to such litigation, legal proceedings, claims, disputes or arbitration proceedings, which may materially and adversely affect our reputation and brand names. In the case of an adverse verdict, we may be required to pay significant monetary damages, assume significant liabilities or suspend or terminate parts of our operations. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We may not have sufficient insurance to cover our business risks.

We have obtained insurance to cover certain potential risks and liabilities, such as professional liability insurance for our doctors in connection with their provision of medical consultation services over our platform, and product liability insurance for us and our suppliers with respect to products sold in our retail pharmacy and online wholesale pharmacy through 1 Drugstore and 1 Drug Mall, respectively. However, we may not be able to acquire any insurance for certain types of risks such as business liability or service disruption insurance for all of our operations in the PRC, and our coverage may not be adequate to compensate for all losses that may occur, particularly with respect to loss of business or operations. For example, we do not maintain business interruption insurance, nor do we maintain key-man life insurance. Any business disruption, litigation, regulatory action, outbreak of epidemic disease or natural disaster could also expose us to substantial costs and diversion of resources. There can be no assurance that our insurance coverage is sufficient to prevent us from any loss or that we will be able to successfully claim our losses under our current insurance policies on a timely basis, or at all. If we incur any loss that is not covered by our insurance policies, or the compensated amount is significantly less than our actual loss, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which may be expensive to defend and may disrupt our business and operations.

We cannot be certain that our operations or any aspects of our business do not or would not infringe upon or otherwise violate trademarks, patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may be, from time to time, or in the future, become subject to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, there may be other third-party intellectual property that is infringed by our products, services or other aspects of our business. There could also be existing intellectual property of which we are not aware that our products may inadvertently infringe. There can be no assurance that holders of such intellectual property purportedly relating to some aspect of our technology platform or business, if any such holders exist, would not seek to enforce such intellectual property against us in the PRC or in any other jurisdictions, as applicable. Furthermore, the application and interpretation of PRC intellectual property related laws and the procedures and standards in the PRC are still evolving and are uncertain, and there can be no assurance that PRC courts or regulatory authorities would agree with our analysis. If we are found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be subject to liability for our infringement activities or may be prohibited from using such intellectual property, and we may incur licensing fees or be forced to develop alternatives of our own. In addition, we may incur significant expenses, and may be forced to divert management’s time and other resources from our business and operations to defend against these third-party infringement claims, regardless of their merits. Successful infringement or licensing claims made against us may result in significant monetary liabilities and may materially disrupt our business and operations by restricting or prohibiting our use of the intellectual property in question, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Failure to renew our current leases or locate desirable alternatives for our facilities could materially and adversely affect our business.

We lease properties for our offices, offline retail pharmacies and fulfillment centers. We may not be able to successfully extend or renew such leases upon expiration of the current term on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and may therefore be forced to relocate our affected operations. This could disrupt our operations and result in significant relocation expenses, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we compete with other businesses for premises at certain locations or of desirable sizes. As a result, even though we could extend or renew our leases, rental payments may significantly increase as a result of the high demand for the leased properties. In addition, we may not be able to locate desirable alternative sites for our facilities as our business continues to grow and failure in relocating our affected operations could adversely affect our business and operations.

Security breaches and attacks against our systems and network, and any potential resultant breach or failure to otherwise protect confidential and proprietary information, could damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely heavily on technology, particularly the internet, to provide high-quality online services. However, our technology operations are vulnerable to disruptions arising from human error, natural disasters, power failure, computer viruses, spam attacks, unauthorized access and other similar events. Disruptions to, or instability of, our technology or external technology that allows our pharmacy customers and consumers to use our online services and products could materially harm our business and reputation.

Although we have employed significant resources to develop security measures against breaches, our cybersecurity measures may not detect or prevent all attempts to compromise our systems, including distributed denial-of-service attacks, viruses, malicious software, break-ins, phishing attacks, social engineering, misconduct or sabotage by our employees, security breaches or other attacks and similar disruptions that may jeopardize the security of information stored in and transmitted by our systems or that we otherwise maintain. Breaches of our cybersecurity measures could result in unauthorized access to our systems, misappropriation of information or data, deletion or modification of user information, or a denial-of-service or other interruption to our business operations. As techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us, we may be unable to anticipate, or implement adequate measures to protect against, these attacks. There can be no assurance that we would not in the future be subject to such attacks that may result in material damages or remediation costs. If we are unable to avert these attacks and security breaches, we could be subject to significant legal and financial liability, our reputation would be harmed and we could sustain substantial revenue loss from lost sales and customer dissatisfaction.

In addition, we may not have the resources or technical sophistication to anticipate or prevent rapidly evolving types of cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks may target us, our users or other participants of our ecosystem, or the information infrastructure on which we depend. Actual or anticipated attacks and risks may cause us to incur significantly higher costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and network protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants. Cybersecurity breaches may harm our reputation and business, and materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our failure to comply with anti-corruption laws and regulations, or effectively manage our employees, marketplace sellers and affiliates, could severely damage our reputation, and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to risks in relation to actions taken by us, our employees, marketplace sellers or affiliates that constitute violations of the anti-corruption laws and regulations. There have been several instances of corrupt practices in the pharmaceutical industry, including, among other things, receipt of kickbacks, bribes or other illegal gains or benefits by pharmacies, hospitals and medical practitioners from manufacturers, distributors and retail pharmacies in connection with the prescription of pharmaceutical products. While we adopt strict internal procedures and work closely with relevant government agencies to ensure compliance of our business operations with relevant laws and regulations, our efforts may not be sufficient to ensure that we comply with relevant laws and regulations at all times. If we, our employees, marketplace sellers or affiliates violate these laws, rules or regulations, we could be subject to fines and/or other penalties. In the case of our retail and wholesale businesses, the products involved may be seized and our operations may be suspended. Actions by PRC regulatory authorities or the courts to provide an interpretation of PRC laws and regulations that differs from our interpretation or to adopt additional anti-bribery or anti-corruption related regulations could also require us to make changes to our operations. Our reputation, corporate image, and business operations may be materially and adversely affected if we fail to comply with these measures or become the target of any negative publicity as a result of actions taken by us, our employees, marketplace sellers or affiliates, which may in turn have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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Our delivery, return and exchange policies may materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

We have adopted shipping policies that do not necessarily pass the full cost of shipping on to our pharmacy customers and consumers. We have also adopted policies that permit the return and exchange of our products within thirty days in certain circumstances for specified reasons. We may also be required by law to adopt new or amend existing return and exchange policies from time to time. For example, pursuant to the Consumer Protection Law and relevant regulations and rules, consumers are generally entitled to return products purchased within seven days upon receipt without reason when they purchase the products from business operators on the internet with certain exception, such as pharmaceutical products. These policies subject us to additional costs and expenses which we may not recoup through increased revenue. Our ability to handle a large volume of returns is unproven. If we revise these policies to reduce our costs and expenses, our pharmacy customers and consumers may be dissatisfied, which may result in loss of existing consumers and pharmacy customers or failure to acquire new consumers and pharmacy customers at a desirable pace, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

If we are subject to higher product return rates, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We have established a thirty-day product return policy in certain circumstances for specified reasons. In addition, pursuant to the Consumer Protection Law, consumers are generally entitled to return purchased products within seven days upon receipt without giving any reasons when they purchase the products from business operators on the internet. Although a majority of our products may not be returned or exchanged under the Administrative Standard of Pharmaceutical Operating Quality, prohibiting returns and exchanges of pharmaceutical products except for quality reasons, if our product return rates increase or are higher than expected, our revenues and costs can be negatively impacted. Furthermore, as we cannot return some products to our suppliers pursuant to our contracts with them or if return rates for such products increase significantly, we may experience an increase in our inventory balance, inventory impairment and fulfillment cost, which may materially and adversely affect our working capital. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to conduct our marketing activities effectively, properly, or at reasonable costs, and we are subject to limitations in promoting our services and products, which will have an impact on our business operations.

We invest significant resources in a variety of different marketing and brand promotion efforts designed to enhance our brand recognition and increase sales of our services and products. However, our brand promotion and marketing activities may not be well received and may not result in the levels of sales that we anticipate. Meanwhile, marketing approaches and tools in the PRC internet healthcare market are continually evolving, which may further require us to enhance our marketing approaches and experiment with new marketing methods to keep pace with industry developments and customer preferences. Failure to refine our existing marketing approaches or to introduce new marketing approaches in a cost-effective manner could reduce our market share and materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and profitability. In addition, we are subject to certain limitations in promoting services and products. Our in-house medical team and external doctors and other relevant parties in the provision of our medical and wellness services have to comply with rules and regulations that restrict the promotion or dissemination of information about the professional healthcare services and practice provided by licensed doctors, and the publication or marketing efforts for the predominant purpose of promoting the products or services of doctors to consumers or potential consumers. Such restrictions may affect our ability to further enhance our brand recognition or secure new business opportunities in the future.

Under PRC laws and regulations, all advertisements published online containing drug names, applicable symptoms treated by such drugs (major functions) or other drug-related content, and advertisements published online containing medical device names and the applicable scope, performance, structure and composition, function and other contents relevant to medical device are subject to examination by relevant government authorities. We are prohibited from publishing advertisements of prescription drugs on our website and must ensure that any advertisement of medical treatment, drugs or medical devices does not include any assertion or guarantee as to the function and safety or any statement of curative rate and effectiveness of such medical treatment, drugs or medical devices. Any violation of advertisement-related laws and regulations may subject us to fine, or even suspension of our business or revocation of our business license. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations Relating to Online Advertising.” Although we have implemented internal procedures to examine the content of advertisements displayed on our website, we cannot assure you that all such content meets the requirements under PRC advertising-related laws and regulations at all times. In the past, we have been required to pay penalties for advertisements displayed on our website due to non-compliance with advertising laws.

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There can be no assurance that our existing practices of monitoring our information dissemination process and publication would continue to be effective and would comply fully with laws and regulations. Should there be any change in the relevant rules and regulations, or change of interpretation thereof, we, our in-house medical team, external doctors and other relevant third parties may be regarded as breaching the relevant rules and regulations and may be subject to regulatory penalties or disciplinary actions, which may materially and adversely affect our business and reputation.

We may not be able to detect or prevent fraud or other misconduct committed by our employees or third parties.

Fraud or other misconduct by our employees, such as unauthorized business transactions, bribery and breach of our internal policies and procedures, unauthorized access to or leakage of the data of our consumers and pharmacy customers, or by third parties, such as breach of law, may be difficult to detect or prevent. It could subject us to financial loss and sanctions imposed by governmental authorities while seriously damaging our reputation. This may also impair our ability to effectively attract prospective users, develop customer loyalty, obtain financing on favorable terms and conduct other business activities.

In particular, we may face risks with respect to fictitious or other fraudulent activities. There can be no assurance that the measures we have implemented to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities would be effective in combating fraudulent transactions or improving overall satisfaction among our consumers and pharmacy customers, pharmaceutical companies and marketplace sellers. Our marketplace sellers may also engage in fictitious or “phantom” transactions with themselves or collaborators in order to artificially inflate their ratings, reputation and search results rankings. This activity may harm other third parties by enabling the perpetrating marketplace seller to be favored over legitimate ones, may harm consumers by deceiving them into believing that a marketplace seller is more reliable or trusted than that marketplace seller actually is, and result in inflated GMV from our online marketplace.

Our risk management systems, information technology systems and internal control procedures are designed to monitor our operations and overall compliance. However, we may be unable to identify non-compliance or suspicious transactions promptly, or at all. Furthermore, it is not always possible to detect and prevent fraud or other misconduct committed by our employees, ecosystem participants or other third parties, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect such activities may not be effective. Therefore, we are subject to the risk that fraud or other misconduct may have previously occurred but was undetected, or may occur in the future. This may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may need additional capital but may not be able to obtain it on favorable terms or at all.

We may require additional cash resources due to operating losses or future growth and development of our business, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If our cash resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to issue additional equity or debt securities or obtain new or expanded credit facilities. Our ability to obtain external financing in the future is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including our future financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, share price performance, liquidity of international capital and lending markets and the PRC governmental regulations over foreign investment and the PRC healthcare industry. In addition, incurring indebtedness would subject us to increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. There can be no assurance that financing would be available in a timely manner or in amounts or on terms favorable to us, or at all. Any failure to raise needed funds on terms favorable to us, or at all, could severely restrict our liquidity as well as have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, any issuance of equity or equity-linked securities could result in significant dilution to our existing shareholders.

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Our business could be disrupted by network interruptions.

Our business depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer and communications systems and our entire information infrastructure is located in China. Our information infrastructure contains substantial quantities of data relating to our supply chain information, competitive pricing data and customer base, such as customer behavior, consultation records and transaction data, among other things, which enable our users to access the full range of our services and other ecosystem participants to conduct their operations efficiently and effectively over our platforms. Although we have certain precautions to address potential interruptions, such preparation may not be sufficient and we do not carry business interruption insurance. Furthermore, despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, flood or fire, or other unanticipated incidents at our information infrastructure facilities in China, including power outages, telecommunications delays or failures, break-ins to our systems or computer viruses, could result in delays or interruptions to our platform and operations as well as loss of our consumers’ and other participants’ data. Any of these events could damage our reputation, materially disrupt our ecosystem and subject us to liability and claims, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

An occurrence of a natural disaster, widespread health epidemic or other outbreaks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business could be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters, such as snowstorms, earthquakes, fires or floods, the outbreak of a widespread health epidemic or other events, such as wars, acts of terrorism, environmental accidents, power shortage, labor unrest or communication interruptions. The occurrence of such a disaster or prolonged outbreak of an epidemic illness or other adverse public health developments in the PRC or elsewhere could materially disrupt our business and operations. Such events could also significantly affect our industry and cause a temporary closure of the facilities we use for our operations, which would severely disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our operations could be disrupted if any of our employees were suspected of having any of the epidemic illnesses, since this could require us to quarantine some or all of such employees or disinfect the facilities used for our operations. In addition, our revenue and profitability could be materially reduced to the extent that a natural disaster, health epidemic or other outbreak harms the global or PRC economy in general. Our operations could also be severely disrupted if our users or other participants were affected by such natural disasters, health epidemics or other outbreaks.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government deems that the contractual arrangements in relation to our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Foreign ownership of internet-based businesses, such as provision of online information and other value-added telecommunication services, and medical institutions, are subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. For example, foreign investors are generally not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a value-added telecommunication service provider with the exception relating to e-commerce business, and any such foreign investor must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record, and the medical institution can only be established as sino-foreign equity or cooperative joint venture in accordance with the currently-effective Guidance Catalogue of Industries for Foreign Investment and other applicable laws and regulations.

We are a Cayman Islands company and our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, is considered a wholly foreign owned enterprise. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we set up a series of contractual arrangements entered into among Yao Fang, our variable interest entities, and their shareholders to conduct our operations in China. For a detailed description of these contractual arrangements, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.” As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries and consolidate their operating results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. We conduct our pharmaceutical wholesale and retail business, online retail pharmacy, 1 Drugstore, pharmacopoeia and our internet hospital, 1 Clinic, via our variable interest entities, Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Anshun Southwest Internet Hospital Co., Ltd., or Southwest Internet Hospital, respectively.

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In the opinion of our PRC legal counsel, Commerce & Finance Law Offices, the ownership structures of our variable interest entities currently does not, result in any violation of the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect; and the contractual arrangements among Yao Fang, our variable interest entities and their shareholders, are governed by PRC laws or regulations, and are currently valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect, and do not result in any violation of the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect.

However, Commerce & Finance Law Offices has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations, and there can be no assurance that the PRC government will ultimately take a view that is consistent with the opinion of our PRC counsel. In January 2015, the MOFCOM published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law, or the Draft FIL, for public review and comments. Among other things, the Draft FIL expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered a foreign-invested enterprise, or an FIE. Under the Draft FIL, variable interest entities would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors, and would be subject to restrictions on foreign investments. Subsequently, in December 2018, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress reviewed a draft Foreign Investment Law, and this draft was subsequently published for public comment. In March 2019, a new draft of Foreign Investment Law was submitted to the National People’s Congress for review and was approved on March 15, 2019, which will come into effect from January 1, 2020. The approved Foreign Investment Law does not touch upon the relevant concepts and regulatory regimes that were historically suggested for the regulation of VIE structures, and thus this regulatory topic remains unclear under the Foreign Investment Law. Since the Foreign Investment Law is new, there are substantial uncertainties exist with respect to its implementation and interpretation and it is also possible that the VIE entities will be deemed as foreign invested enterprises and be subject to restrictions in the future. Such restrictions may cause interruptions to our operations, products and services and may incur additional compliance cost, which may in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If our ownership structure and contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including levying fines, confiscating our income or the income of our PRC subsidiaries, variable interest entities or their subsidiaries, revoking the business licenses and/or operating licenses of such entities, shutting down our servers or blocking our online platforms, discontinuing or placing restrictions or onerous conditions on our operations, requiring us to undergo a costly and disruptive restructuring, and taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business. Any of these actions could cause significant disruption to our business operations and severely damage our reputation, which would in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of these occurrences results in our inability to direct the activities of our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, and/or our failure to receive economic benefits from our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, we may not be able to consolidate their results into our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We rely on contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities and their shareholders, for a significant portion of our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.

We have relied and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities and their shareholders to operate our pharmaceutical wholesale and retail business, 1 Drugstore, pharmacopoeia and our internet hospital, 1 Clinic, through Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Southwest Internet Hospital, respectively. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.” These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries. For example, our variable interest entities or their shareholders may fail to fulfill their contractual obligations with us, by, among other things, failing to maintain our website and use the domain names and trademarks in a manner as stipulated in the contractual arrangements, or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests.

If we had direct ownership of our variable interest entities, we would be able to exercise our rights as shareholders to effect changes in their board of directors, which in turn could implement changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management and operational level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by our variable interest entities and their shareholders of their obligations under the contractual arrangements to exercise control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries. The shareholders of our variable interest entities may not act in the best interests of our company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. Such risks exist throughout the period in which we intend to operate certain portions of our business through the contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities and their shareholders. Although we have the right to replace any shareholder of such entities under the contractual arrangements, if any of these shareholders are uncooperative or any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC laws and arbitration, litigation and other legal proceedings, the outcome of which will be subject to uncertainties in the PRC legal system. Therefore, our contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities and their shareholders may not be as effective in ensuring our control over the relevant portion of our business operations as direct ownership would be.

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Any failure by our variable interest entities or their respective shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material adverse effect on our business.

We have entered into a series of contractual arrangements with our variable interest entities and their shareholders. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.” If our variable interest entities or their shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC laws, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective under PRC laws. For example, if the shareholders of our variable interest entities were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in such entities to us or our designee when we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal action to compel them to perform their contractual obligations.

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC laws and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC laws and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity should be interpreted or enforced under PRC laws. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of such arbitration should legal action become necessary. In addition, under PRC laws, rulings by arbitrators are final and parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in court unless such rulings are revoked or determined unenforceable by a competent court. If the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event that we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delay or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to us.”

The shareholders of our variable interest entities may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The equity interests of our variable interest entity, Yihao Pharmacy, are held by Mr. Yue Xuan, a family member of Dr. Gang Yu, and Ms. Jing Liu, a family member of Mr. Junling Liu. These shareholders may have potential conflicts of interest with us. These shareholders may breach, or cause our variable interest entities to breach, the existing contractual arrangements, which would have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively control our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries and receive economic benefits from them. For example, these shareholders may be able to cause our agreements with our variable interest entities to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company, except that we could exercise our purchase option under the exclusive option agreement with these shareholders to request them to transfer all of their equity interests in our variable interest entities to a PRC entity or individual designated by us, to the extent permitted by PRC laws. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and these shareholders, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in the disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

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Contractual arrangements in relation to our variable interest entities, may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that we, or our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, owe additional taxes, which could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.

Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. The PRC enterprise income tax law requires every enterprise in China to submit its annual enterprise income tax return together with a report on transactions with its related parties to the relevant tax authorities. The tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent with arm’s length principles. We may face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among Yao Fang, our wholly owned subsidiary in China, our variable interest entities and their shareholders were not entered into on an arm’s length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, regulations and rules, and adjust income of our variable interest entities in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by our variable interest entities for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase their tax liabilities without reducing Yao Fang’s tax expenses. Furthermore, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our variable interest entities for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially adversely affected if our variable interest entities’ tax liabilities increase or if they are required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

If we exercise the option to acquire equity ownership of our variable interest entities, the ownership transfer shall be approved or filed with PRC governmental authorities and subject to taxation, which may result in substantial costs.

Pursuant to the contractual arrangements, Yao Fang has the exclusive right to purchase all or any part of the equity interests in our variable interest entities from the respective shareholders for free or at a lowest price as permitted by the then applicable PRC laws. The equity transfer shall be subject to the approvals from or filings with the MOFCOM, the MIIT, the SAIC and/or their local competent branches. In addition, the equity transfer price may be subject to review and tax adjustment by the relevant tax authority. In particular, the shareholders of our variable interest entities will be subject to PRC individual or enterprise income tax on the difference between the equity transfer price and the then current registered capital of our variable interest entities and the payment, after deducting such tax, to Yao Fang may also be subject to enterprise income tax, which may result in substantial costs.

We may lose the ability to use and benefit from assets held by our variable interest entities that are material to the operation of our business if the entity goes bankrupt or becomes subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

Our variable interest entities hold certain assets that are material to the operation of our business, including, among others, intellectual properties. Under the contractual arrangements, our variable interest entities may not, and the shareholders of our variable interest entities may not cause them to, in any manner, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of their assets or their legal or beneficial interests in the business without our prior consent. However, in the event these shareholders breach these contractual arrangements and voluntarily liquidate our variable interest entities, or our variable interest entities declare bankruptcy and all or part of their assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, or are otherwise disposed of without our consent, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If our variable interest entities undergo a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, the independent third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Substantially all of our operations are located in China. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.

The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China are still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. In addition, in the past the Chinese government has implemented certain measures, including interest rate increases, to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity in China, and since 2012, the Chinese economy has slowed down. Any prolonged slowdown in the Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our products and services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to us.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes and prior court decisions have limited value as precedents. Since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules (some of which are not published in a timely manner or at all) that may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of pharmaceutical and healthcare industry and internet-related businesses, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our business is subject to governmental supervision and regulation by the relevant PRC governmental authorities, including but not limited to the MOFCOM, the MIIT, the National Medical Products Administration, or the NMPA, the NHFPC and the SAMR and their counterparts. Together, these government authorities promulgate and enforce regulations that cover many aspects of the operation of pharmaceutical operation, medical and healthcare services and internet-related business, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in such business. The laws and regulations related to medical and healthcare services and internet-related business are evolving rapidly, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties. As a result, in certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations. Under PRC laws, an entity must obtain the pharmaceutical operation license from the NMPA or its counterpart for conducting pharmaceutical wholesale and retail business, the value-added telecommunication service operating licenses from the MIIT or its counterpart for either online information services or third-party e-commerce platform, and a medical institution shall obtain a practicing license of medical institutions from the NHFPC for provision of medical diagnosis and treatment services. We have made great efforts to obtain all applicable licenses and permits necessary to our main business. However, the interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the pharmaceutical operation, medical and healthcare services and internet-related business have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, pharmaceutical operation, medical and healthcare services and internet-related business industry in China, including our business, we cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses required for conducting our business or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain new ones. If the PRC government considers that we were operating without the proper approvals, licenses or permits or promulgates new laws and regulations that require additional approvals or licenses or imposes additional restrictions on the operation of any part of our business, it has the power, among other things, to levy fines, confiscate our income, revoke our business licenses, and require us to discontinue our relevant business or impose restrictions on the affected portion of our business. Any of these actions by the PRC government may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

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We rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

We are a holding company, and we rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and service any debt we may incur. If our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us, which may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements. In addition, since we have no direct equity interests in our variable interest entities and only collect the revenue under the contractual arrangement, the PRC tax authorities may require our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, to adjust its taxable income under the contractual arrangements it currently has in place with our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries, in a manner that would materially and adversely affect their ability to pay dividends and other distributions to us.

Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries may pay dividends only out of their accumulated after-tax profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, Chinese domestic entities are required to set aside at least 10% of their accumulated after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such funds reaches 50% of their registered capital. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise may allocate, at its discretion, a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends.

At the end of 2016, the People’s Bank of China, or PBOC, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, implemented a series of capital control measures, including stricter vetting procedures for China-based companies to remit foreign currency for overseas acquisitions, dividend payments and shareholder loan repayments. For instance, the PBOC issued the Circular on Further Clarification of Relevant Matters Relating to Offshore Renminbi Loans Provided by Domestic Enterprises, in November 2016, which provides that offshore Renminbi loans provided by a domestic enterprise to offshore enterprises that are its affiliates in equity shall not exceed a certain amount that is equal to the most recent audited owner’s equity multiplied by a ratio determined by the PBOC, and may constrain our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to provide offshore loans to us. The PRC government may continue to strengthen its capital controls and our PRC subsidiaries’ dividends and other distributions may be subjected to tighter scrutiny in the future. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business. See also “—If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.”

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PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our initial public offering to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries and variable interest entities. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and variable interest entities subject to the approval from governmental authorities and limitation of amount, or we may make additional capital contributions to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China.

Any funds we transfer to our PRC subsidiaries, either as a shareholder loan or as an increase in registered capital, are subject to filing or registration with the relevant governmental authorities in China. According to the relevant PRC regulations on foreign-invested enterprises in China, capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to the requirement of making necessary filings and registration with other governmental authorities in China. In addition, (a) any foreign loan procured by our PRC subsidiaries is required to be registered with SAFE, or its local branches, and (b) each of our PRC subsidiaries may not procure loans which exceed the statutory limit. Any medium or long-term loan to be provided by us to our variable interest entities must be recorded and registered by the NDRC and SAFE or its local branches. We may not complete such recording or registrations on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future capital contributions or foreign loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries. If we fail to complete such recording or registration, our ability to use the proceeds of our initial public offering and to capitalize our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

In 2008, SAFE promulgated the Notice of the General Affairs Department of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the Relevant Operating Issues concerning the Improvement of the Administration of Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or Circular 142, which used to regulate the conversion by foreign-invested enterprises of foreign currency into Renminbi by restricting the usage of converted Renminbi. In March 2015, SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administrative Approach Regarding the Settlement of the Foreign Exchange Capitals of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or Circular 19. Circular 19 took effect as of June 1, 2015 and superseded Circular 142 on the same date. Circular 19 launched a nationwide reform of the administration of the settlement of the foreign exchange capitals of foreign-invested enterprises and allows foreign-invested enterprises to settle their foreign exchange capital at their discretion, but continues to prohibit foreign-invested enterprises from using the Renminbi fund converted from their foreign exchange capitals for expenditures beyond their business scopes. In June 2016, SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Administrative Provisions on Capital Account Foreign Exchange Settlement, or Circular 16. Circular 16 continues to prohibit foreign-invested enterprises from, among other things, using the Renminbi fund converted from its foreign exchange capitals for expenditure beyond its business scope, investment and financing (except for guarantee products issued by a bank or otherwise permitted by laws), providing loans to non-affiliated enterprises or constructing or purchasing real estate not for self-use (except for real estate enterprise). Circular 19 and Circular 16 may significantly limit our ability to transfer to and use in China the net proceeds from our initial public offering, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the price of the ADSs.

The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions in China and by China’s foreign exchange policies. In July 2005, the PRC government changed its decade-old policy of pegging the value of the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar, and the Renminbi appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar over the following three years. Between July 2008 and June 2010, this appreciation halted and the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar remained within a narrow band. Since June 2010, Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at certain times significantly and unpredictably. With the development of the foreign exchange market progressing towards interest rate liberalization and Renminbi internationalization and economic uncertainties in both China and the rest of the world, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system and we cannot assure you that the Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

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All of our revenue and substantially all of our costs are denominated in Renminbi and our reporting currency is Renminbi. Significant revaluation of the Renminbi may have a material and adverse effect on your investment. For example, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we received from our initial public offering into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would reduce the Renminbi amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would reduce the U.S. dollar amount available to us.

Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to hedge our exposure adequately or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our operating revenue effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our operating revenue in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our company in the Cayman Islands relies on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have.

Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, is able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from SAFE, subject to the certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation. But approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses under capital account items such as overseas investment and the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies.

In light of the substantial capital outflows of China in 2016 due to the weakening of Renminbi, the PRC government has imposed more restrictive foreign exchange policies and stepped up scrutiny of major outbound capital movement. More restrictions and substantial vetting processes have been put in place by SAFE to regulate cross-border transactions falling under the capital account. The PRC government may at its discretion further restrict access to foreign currencies in the future for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans and withhold individual income tax on employees’ salaries as required by PRC regulations may subject us to penalties.

Companies operating in China are required to participate in various government-mandated employee benefit contribution plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of our employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where we operate our businesses. The requirement of employee benefit contribution plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations. Companies operating in China are also required to withhold individual income tax on employees’ salaries based on the actual salary of each employee upon payment. We may be subject to late fees and fines in relation to the underpaid employee benefits and under-withheld individual income tax, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

The M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Companies by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006 and amended in 2009, and some other regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions, established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China requires that the MOFCOM shall be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. In addition, a regulation related to security review on mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprise by foreign investors issued by the MOFCOM that became effective in September 2011 specifies that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the MOFCOM, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the MOFCOM or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

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PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us or our PRC resident beneficial owners to liability and penalties under PRC law.

In October 2005, SAFE issued a circular on relevant issues relating to foreign exchange administration in fund financing and roundtrip investment by domestic residents via offshore special purpose vehicles, or Circular 75, requiring PRC residents, including individual and entities, to register with the relevant local branch of SAFE before establishing or controlling any company outside of China, referred to as an offshore special purpose company, for the purpose of raising funds from overseas to acquire or exchange assets of, or acquiring equity interest in, PRC companies held by such PRC residents.

In July 2014, the SAFE issued a circular on foreign exchange administration involved in overseas investment, financing and roundtrip investment conducted by PRC residents via offshore special purpose vehicles, or Circular 37, which replaced Circular 75 and further requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing by either onshore or offshore assets or equity legally held by such PRC residents. In February 2015, SAFE released the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Simplifying and Improving the Policies of Foreign Exchange Administration Applicable to Direct Investment, or Circular 13, which further clarified that offshore individuals who have foreign identification and use their offshore assets or equity to make contributions into an offshore special purpose vehicle are not subject to the registration under Circular 37.

If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration as required, our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

Since Dr. Gang Yu and Mr. Junling Liu are non-PRC citizens with foreign identification who establish and make contributions to our Cayman Islands holding company by their offshore assets, they are not subject to the foreign exchange registrations for their offshore investment, financing and roundtrip investment in accordance with Circular 75 then in effect and Circular 37.

However, we may not be informed of the identities of all PRC residents holding direct or indirect interest in our company, nor can we compel our beneficial owners to comply with the requirements of Circular 37. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, Circular 37 or other PRC applicable law and regulations related to outbound investment. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with Circular 37, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

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Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, promulgated by SAFE in 2012, or SAFE Notices No. 7, PRC citizens and non-PRC citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of no less than one year who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company offered to the director, supervisor, senior management and other employees of, and any individual who has labor relationship with its domestic affiliated entities are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, an overseas entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. We and our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of no less than one year and who have been granted stock options are subject to these regulations. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations for our employee incentive plans may subject them to fines and legal sanctions, and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law.

In addition, the State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, has issued certain circulars concerning employee stock options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise stock options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiaries have obligations to file documents related to employee stock options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees who exercise their share options or are granted with restricted shares. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities.

U.S. regulatory bodies may be limited in their ability to conduct investigations or inspections of our operations in China.

Any disclosure of documents or information located in China by foreign agencies may be subject to jurisdiction constraints and must comply with China’s state secrecy laws, which broadly define the scope of “state secrets” to include matters involving economic interests and technologies. There is no guarantee that requests from U.S. federal or state regulators or agencies to investigate or inspect our operations will be honored by us, by entities who provide services to us or with whom we associate, without violating PRC legal requirements, especially as those entities are located in China. Furthermore, under the current PRC laws, an on-site inspection of our facilities by any of these regulators may be limited or prohibited.

If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.

Under the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the PRC, or the EIT Law, and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a resident enterprise and will be subject to the enterprise income tax on its global income at the rate of 25%. The implementation rules define the term “de facto management body” as the body that exercises full and substantial control and overall management over the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. On April 22, 2009, the SAT issued a circular, known as Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. According to Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.

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Although this circular only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” text should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. If the PRC tax authorities determine that we should be classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes, our global income will be subject to income tax at a uniform rate of 25%, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, the EIT Law also provides that, if a PRC resident enterprise directly invests in another PRC resident enterprise, the dividends received by the investing PRC resident enterprise from the invested PRC resident enterprise are exempted from income tax, subject to certain conditions. However, it remains unclear how the PRC tax authorities will interpret the PRC tax resident treatment of an offshore company with indirect ownership interests in PRC resident enterprises through intermediary holding companies.

Moreover, if the PRC tax authorities determine that our company is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, gains realized on the sale or other disposal of ADSs or ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises, or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

We may not be able to obtain certain benefits under the relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.

Pursuant to the EIT Law and its implementation rules, if a non-resident enterprise has not set up an organization or establishment in the PRC, or has set up an organization or establishment but the income derived has no actual connection with such organization or establishment, it will be subject to a withholding tax on its PRC-sourced income at a rate of 10%. Pursuant to the Arrangement between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion on Income, or the Double Taxation Arrangement, the withholding tax rate in respect to the payment of dividends by a PRC enterprise to a Hong Kong enterprise is reduced to 5% from a standard rate of 10% if the Hong Kong enterprise directly holds at least 25% of the PRC enterprise. There are also other conditions for enjoying the reduced withholding tax rate according to other relevant tax rules and regulations.

In February 2009, SAT issued SAT Notice No. 81, pursuant to which an enterprise must be the “beneficial owner” of the relevant dividend income in order to enjoy the preferential withholding tax rates on dividend. If, however, such enterprise otherwise qualifies for such preferential withholding tax rates through any transaction or arrangement, whose main purpose is to qualify for such preferential withholding tax rates, the enterprise nevertheless cannot enjoy the preferential withholding tax rates and the competent tax authority has the power to adjust the applicable withholding tax rates if it so determines. A SAT Notice No. 9 issued by SAT that took effect in April 2018 indicated that “beneficial owner” refers to a person who has ownership and disposal rights to the income or any rights and assets arising from such income, and the tax authority has discretion to determine whether or not an enterprise is determined as a “beneficial owner.” However, since the SAT Notice No. 9 is newly issued, it remains unclear how the PRC tax authorities will implement SAT Notice No. 9 in practice and to what extent they will affect the dividend withholding tax rates for dividends distributed by our PRC subsidiaries to our Hong Kong subsidiary. If the relevant tax authority determines that our Hong Kong subsidiary is a conduit company and does not qualify as the “beneficial owner” of the dividend income it receives from our PRC subsidiaries, the higher 10% withholding tax rate will apply to such dividends.

Therefore, we cannot assure you that our determination regarding our qualification to enjoy the preferential tax treatment will not be challenged by the relevant PRC tax authority or we will be able to complete the necessary filings with the relevant PRC tax authority and enjoy the preferential withholding tax rate of 5% under the Double Taxation Arrangement with respect to dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiaries to Yao Wang Corporation Limited, our Hong Kong subsidiary.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

We face uncertainties regarding the reporting on and consequences of previous private equity financing transactions involving the transfer and exchange of shares in our company by non-PRC resident investors.

According to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises issued by SAT on December 10, 2009, or SAT Circular 698, where a non-PRC resident enterprise transfers the equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise indirectly through a disposition of equity interests in an offshore holding company (other than the sale on a public stock market of shares of an offshore enterprise purchased on a public stock market), or an Indirect Transfer, the non-PRC resident enterprise, as the seller, may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax of up to 10% of the gains derived from the Indirect Transfer in certain circumstances.

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On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued the Announcement on Several Issues Concerning the Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Property Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Notice No. 7, to supersede the existing tax rules in relation to the tax treatment of the Indirect Transfer, while the other provisions of SAT Circular 698 are irrelevant to the Indirect Transfer remain in force. SAT Notice No. 7 introduces a new tax regime that is significantly different from that under a notice issued by SAT Circular 698. It extends SAT’s tax jurisdiction to capture not only the Indirect Transfer as set forth under SAT Circular 698 but also transactions involving indirect transfer of (i) real properties in China and (ii) assets of an “establishment or place” situated in China, by a non-PRC resident enterprise through a disposition of equity interests in an offshore holding company. SAT Notice No. 7 also extends the interpretation with respect to the disposition of equity interests in an offshore holding company broadly. In addition, SAT Notice No. 7 further clarifies how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and introduces safe harbors applicable to internal group restructurings. However, it also brings challenges to both offshore transferor and transferee as they are required to make self-assessments on whether an Indirect Transfer or similar transaction should be subject to PRC tax and whether they should file or withhold any tax payment accordingly. On October 17, 2017, the SAT issued a Notice Concerning Withholding Income Tax of Non-Resident Enterprise, or SAT Notice No. 37, which abolished SAT Circular 698 and certain provisions of SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37 further reduced the burden of the withholding obligator, such as revocation of contract filing requirements and tax liquidation procedures, strengthened the cooperation of tax authorities in different places, and clarified the calculation of tax payable and mechanism of foreign exchange.

There is uncertainty as to the application of SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37. In the event that non-PRC resident investors were involved in our private equity financing transactions and such transactions were determined by the competent tax authorities as lacking reasonable commercial purposes, we and our non-PRC resident investors may become at risk of being taxed under and SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37 and may be required to expend costly resources to comply with SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37, or to establish a case to be tax exempt under SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37, which may cause us to incur additional costs and may have a negative impact on the value of your investment in us.

The PRC tax authorities have discretion under SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37 to adjust the taxable capital gains based on the difference between the fair value of the transferred equity interests and the investment cost. We may pursue acquisitions in the future that may involve complex corporate structures. If we are deemed as a non-PRC resident enterprise under the EIT Law and if the PRC tax authorities adjust the taxable income of the transactions under SAT Notice No. 7 and SAT Notice No. 37, our income tax expenses associated with such potential acquisitions will increase, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The audit report included in this annual report is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the PCAOB and, as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included in our annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, as auditors of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because our auditors are located in the PRC, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB. On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China.  The joint statement reflects a heightened interest in an issue that has vexed U.S. regulators in recent years.  However, it remains unclear what further actions the SEC and PCAOB will take to address the problem.

Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. This lack of PCAOB inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our auditor’s audits and its quality control procedures. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.

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The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our financial statements.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against the “big four” PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In late 2012, the SEC commenced administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act against the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms (including our auditors). The Rule 102(e) proceedings initiated by the SEC relate to these firms’ inability to produce documents, including audit work papers, in response to the request of the SEC pursuant to Section 106 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as the auditors located in the PRC are not in a position lawfully to produce documents directly to the SEC because of restrictions under PRC law and specific directives issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC. The issues raised by the proceedings are not specific to our auditors or to us, but affect equally all audit firms based in China and all China-based businesses with securities listed in the United States.

In January 2014, the administrative judge reached an Initial Decision that the “big four” accounting firms should be barred from practicing before the SEC for six months. Thereafter, the accounting firms filed a Petition for Review of the Initial Decision, prompting the SEC Commissioners to review the Initial Decision, determine whether there had been any violation and, if so, determine the appropriate remedy to be placed on these audit firms.

In February 2015, the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms (including our auditors) each agreed to censure and pay a fine to the SEC to settle the dispute and avoid suspension of their ability to practice before the SEC and audit U.S. listed companies. The settlement requires the firms to follow detailed procedures and to seek to provide the SEC with access to the Chinese firms’ audit documents via the CSRC. If future document productions fail to meet the specified criteria, the SEC retains the authority to impose a variety of additional measures (e.g., imposing penalties such as suspensions, restarting the administrative proceedings).

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, and could result in delisting. Moreover, any negative news about the proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, United States-listed companies and the market price of our shares or ADSs may be adversely affected. If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

Risks Related to American Depositary Shares

The market price for the ADSs may be volatile.

Since the ADSs became listed on Nasdaq on September 12, 2018, the trading price of the ADSs has ranged from US$5.60 to US$16.83. The trading prices of the ADSs are likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of internet or other companies based in China that have listed their securities in the United States in recent years. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in their trading prices. The trading performances of other Chinese companies’ securities after their offerings, including internet and e-commerce companies, may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or other matters of other Chinese companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. In addition, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the United States, China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009 and the second half of 2011, which may have a material adverse effect on the market price of the ADSs.

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In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of the ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following:

·                  regulatory developments affecting us, our consumers or our industry;

·                  conditions in the online healthcare industry and the public perception of the legitimacy and ethics of certain business practices of our competitors or other market players within the industry;

·                  announcements of studies and reports relating to the quality of our product and service offerings or those of our competitors;

·                  changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other online healthcare platforms;

·                  actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and changes or revisions of our expected results;

·                  changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts;

·                  announcements by us or our competitors of new product and service offerings, acquisitions, strategic relationships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

·                  additions to or departures of our senior management;

·                  detrimental negative publicity about us, our management or our industry;

·                  fluctuations of exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar;

·                  release or expiry of any transfer restrictions on our outstanding ordinary shares or the ADSs; and

·                  sales or perceived potential sales of additional ordinary shares or ADSs.

The trading market for the ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade the ADSs or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for the ADSs to decline.

Our dual-class share structure with different voting rights will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

We have a dual-class share structure such that our ordinary shares consists of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. In respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to fifteen votes per share based on our proposed dual-class share structure. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any sale, transfer, assignment or disposition of any Class B ordinary share by our Founders (defined in our memorandum and articles of association to mean Dr. Gang Yu and Mr. Junling Liu) or Founder Affiliate (as defined in our memorandum and articles of association) to any person who is not a “Founder Affiliate,” or upon a change of ultimate beneficial ownership of any Class B ordinary share to any person who is not a Founder Affiliate, such Class B ordinary share shall be automatically and immediately converted into one Class A ordinary share.

As of March 31, 2019, our founders, Dr. Gang Yu and Mr. Junling Liu, beneficially own all of our issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares. These Class B ordinary shares constitute approximately 44.1% of our total issued and outstanding share capital and 92.2% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—E. Share Ownership.” As a result of the dual-class share structure and the concentration of ownership, holders of Class B ordinary shares will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Such holders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

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The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for our ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have recently announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of our ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for our ADSs. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our ADSs.

Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on price appreciation of the ADSs for return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in the ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Our board of directors has discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain restrictions under Cayman Islands law, namely that our company may only pay dividends out of profits or share premium account; provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our board of directors. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value in the future or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline.

Sales of ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of the ADSs to decline. As of March 31, 2019, we have 163,317,328 ordinary shares outstanding, including 91,317,328 Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs. All of our ADSs will be freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. The remaining Class A ordinary shares will be available for sale subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act.

Certain holders of our Class A ordinary shares may cause us to register, under the Securities Act, the sale of their shares. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of ADSs representing these registered shares in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline.

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The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to direct the voting of the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs.

As a Cayman Islands exempted company, we are not obliged by the Companies Law to call shareholders’ annual general meetings. As a holder of ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. You will only be able to exercise the voting rights that attach to the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary, as the holder of the underlying Class A ordinary shares that are represented by your ADSs. If we ask the depositary to solicit your instructions, upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will endeavor to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with your instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to solicit, you can still send voting instructions to the depositary, and the depositary may, but is not required, to endeavor to carry out those instructions. You will not be able to directly exercise any right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under our memorandum and articles of association, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders for convening a general meeting is ten calendar days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice to enable you to withdraw the underlying shares which are represented by your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting to allow you to attend the general meeting or to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution which is to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our memorandum and articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the underlying shares which are represented by your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. Where any matter is to be put to a vote at a general meeting, the depositary will endeavor to notify you of the upcoming vote and to deliver our voting materials to you if we ask it to. We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying shares which are represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct the voting of the underlying shares that are represented by your ADSs, and you may have no legal remedy if the underlying shares are not voted as you requested.

The depositary for our ADSs may give us a discretionary proxy to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not give voting instructions, which could adversely affect your interests.

Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, if (i) we timely instruct the depositary to solicit your voting instructions, the depositary does not receive your instructions by the specified date and (ii) we confirm to the depositary that:

·                  we wish a discretionary proxy to be given;

·                  we reasonably believe there is no substantial opposition as to a matter to be voted on at the meeting; and

·                  a matter to be voted on at the meeting would not have a material adverse impact on shareholders,

then the depositary will give us a proxy to vote the shares represented by your ADSs. The effect of this discretionary proxy is that, if you fail to give voting instructions to the depositary as to how to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at any particular shareholders’ meeting, you cannot prevent our ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted at that meeting, and it may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence our management. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

The deposit agreement may be amended or terminated without your consent.

We and the depositary may amend the deposit agreement, and we may initiate termination of it, without your consent. If you continue to hold your ADSs after an amendment to the deposit agreement, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement as amended. See “Item 12. Description of Securities Other Than Equity Securities—Description of American Depositary Shares” for more information.

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Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution of your holdings.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make such rights available to you in the United States unless we register the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not make rights available to you unless the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings in the future and may experience dilution in your holdings.

You may not receive dividends or other distributions on our Class A ordinary shares and you may not receive any value for them, if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying our ADSs, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder of ADSs if it consists of securities that require registration under the Securities Act but that are not properly registered or distributed under an applicable exemption from registration. The depositary may also determine that it is not feasible to distribute certain property through the mail. Additionally, the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may determine not to distribute such property. We have no obligation to register under U.S. securities laws any ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or other securities received through such distributions. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of ADSs. This means that you may not receive distributions we make on our Class A ordinary shares or any value for them if it is illegal or impractical for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may cause a material decline in the value of the ADSs.

Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. We conduct substantially all of our operations in China and substantially all of our assets are located in China. In addition, a majority of our directors and executive officers reside within China, and most of the assets of these persons are located within China. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to effect service of process within the United States upon these individuals, or to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of the PRC may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers. However, the deposit agreement gives you the right to submit claims against us to binding arbitration, and arbitration awards may be enforceable against us and our assets in China even when court judgments are not.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

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Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors will have discretion under our memorandum and articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder resolution or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by our management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

We may need additional capital and may sell additional ADSs or other equity securities or incur indebtedness, which could result in additional dilution to our shareholders or increase our debt service obligations.

We may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If our cash resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities or equity-linked debt securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or terms acceptable to us, if at all.

Our memorandum and articles of association contains anti-takeover provisions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us and adversely affect the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares and the ADSs.

Our memorandum and articles of association contains certain provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company, including a provision that grants authority to our board of directors to establish and issue from time to time one or more series of preferred shares without action by our shareholders and to determine, with respect to any series of preferred shares, the terms and rights of that series. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders and holders of the ADSs of the opportunity to sell their shares or ADSs at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions. In addition, our dual-class structure could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions. See “—Our dual-class share structure with different voting rights will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and the ADSs may view as beneficial.”

Certain existing shareholders have substantial influence over our company and their interests may not be aligned with the interests of our other shareholders.

As of March 31, 2019, our directors and officers collectively owned an aggregate of 93.8% of the total voting power of our outstanding ordinary shares. As a result, they have substantial influence over our business, including significant corporate actions such as mergers, consolidations, election of directors and other significant corporate actions.

They may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of the ADSs. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. In addition, the significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of the ADSs due to investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise. For more information regarding our principal shareholders and their affiliated entities, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—E. Share Ownership.”

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We have granted, and may continue to grant, share incentive awards, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We adopted our 2016 share incentive plan, or the 2016 Plan, in 2016 to promote our success and the interests of our shareholders by providing a means through which we may grant equity-based incentives to attract, motivate, retain and reward certain officers, employees, directors, consultants and other eligible persons and to further link the interests of recipients with those of our shareholders generally. We adopted certain share incentive policies in December 2013 and August 2014, or the 2013 Policy and the 2014 Policy, respectively. Since the adoption of the 2016 Plan, we stopped granting awards under the 2013 Policy or the 2014 Policy, although the outstanding awards under the 2013 Policy and the 2014 Policy are still being administered under their respective policies. In August 2018, we adopted our 2018 Share Incentive Plan, or the 2018 Plan, which replaced the 2016 Plan in its entirety. Upon the effectiveness of the 2018 Plan, we no longer grant any awards under the 2016 Plan. Outstanding awards granted under the 2016 Plan will remain effective and be subject to the terms and conditions of the 2018 Plan. Under the 2016 Plan, we were authorized to grant options to purchase ordinary shares of our company. The maximum number of ordinary shares which may be issued pursuant to all awards under the 2013 Policy, the 2014 Policy and the 2016 Plan is 13,671,109. Under the 2018 Plan, the maximum number of our shares that may be issued pursuant to all awards is 13,671,109, plus an annual increase on the first day of each fiscal year during the ten-year term of the 2018 Plan commencing with the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2019, by an amount equal to the lesser of (i) 1.0% of the total number of shares issued and outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year, and (ii) such number of shares as may be determined by our board of directors. As of the date of this annual report, options to purchase 7,891,262 Class A ordinary shares and 60,000 restricted share units are granted and outstanding under the 2013 Policy, the 2014 Policy and the 2016 Plan, and options to purchase 1,544,697 Class A ordinary shares and 2,040,827 restricted share units are granted and outstanding under the 2018 Plan. We recognized share-based compensation expenses in the amount of RMB3.4 million, RMB9.9 million and RMB51.4 million (US$7.5 million) in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation.” We believe the granting of share-based compensation is of significant importance to our ability to attract, retain and incentivize key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 so long as we are an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

·                  the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K;

·                  the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act;

·                  the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and

·                  the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD.

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We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Global Market. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

As a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the Nasdaq Global Market corporate governance requirements; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the Nasdaq Global Market corporate governance requirements. Currently, we do not have any immediate plans to rely on home country practice with respect to our corporate governance.

We may lose our foreign private issuer status in the future, which could result in significant additional costs and expenses.

As discussed above, we are a foreign private issuer, and therefore, we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter. We would lose our foreign private issuer status if, for example, more than 50% of our ordinary shares are directly or indirectly held by residents of the U.S. and we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to maintain our foreign private issuer status. In the future, if we lose our foreign private issuer status as of the last date of our second fiscal quarter, we would be required to file with the SEC periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms beginning on the following January 1, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. We would also have to mandatorily comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders would become subject to the short-swing profit disclosure and recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we would lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements under the Nasdaq Global Market listing rules. As a U.S. listed public company that is not a foreign private issuer, we would incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we will not incur as a foreign private issuer, and accounting, reporting and other expenses in order to maintain a listing on a U.S. securities exchange.

There can be no assurance that we will not be classified as a passive foreign investment company for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject United States investors in our ADSs or ordinary shares to significant adverse United States federal income tax consequences.

We will be a “passive foreign investment company,” or PFIC, if, in any particular taxable year, either (a) 75% or more of our gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income or (b) 50% or more of the average quarterly value of our assets (as determined on the basis of fair market value) during such year produce or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). Although the law in this regard is unclear, we intend to treat our variable interest entities (including their subsidiaries) as being owned by us for United States federal income tax purposes, not only because we exercise effective control over the operation of such entities but also because we are entitled to substantially all of their economic benefits, and, as a result, we consolidate their results of operations in our consolidated financial statements. Assuming that we are the owner of our variable interest entities (including their subsidiaries) for United States federal income tax purposes, and based upon our current and expected income and assets (including goodwill), we do not believe we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2018 and we do not presently expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.

While we do not expect to become a PFIC, because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test may be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs, fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years. The determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will also depend, in part, on the composition of our income and assets, which may be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets. If we determine not to deploy significant amounts of cash for active purposes or if it were determined that we do not own the stock of our variable interest entities for United States federal income tax purposes, our risk of being a PFIC may substantially increase. Because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules and that PFIC status is a factual determination made annually after the close of each taxable year, there can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or any future taxable year.

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If we are a PFIC in any taxable year, a U.S. holder (as defined in “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation Considerations”) may incur significantly increased United States federal income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the United States federal income tax rules and such holder may be subject to burdensome reporting requirements. Further, if we are a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. holder holds ADSs or our ordinary shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. holder holds our ADSs or ordinary shares. For more information see “Item 10. Additional Information— E. Taxation— United States Federal Income Taxation Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations.”

We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Global Market, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in net revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. We expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Item 4.           Information on the Company

A.            History and Development of the Company

We commenced operations in October 2012 through Guangdong Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd., or Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain. In January 2013, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain established its subsidiary Shanghai Yaowang E-Commerce Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Yaowang. In May 2013, Yao Wang Holdings Ltd. was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as our offshore holding company, which changed its name to New Peak Group in June 2015, and subsequently changed its name to 111, Inc. in April 2018. In June 2013, Yao Wang Corporation Limited, or Yao Wang, was incorporated in Hong Kong as a wholly owned subsidiary of 111, Inc. Yao Fang Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., or Yao Fang, was established in August 2013 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Yao Wang in the PRC. In September 2013, Yao Fang entered into a series of contractual agreements with Guangdong Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd., or Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Shanghai Yaowang and their respective shareholders such that Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Shanghai Yaowang were each treated as a variable interest entity of Yao Fang, and Yao Fang consolidated the financial results of Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Shanghai Yaowang in its consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

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Through Yao Fang, we obtained control over Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Shanghai Yaowang, or collectively, our variable interest entities, based on a series of contractual arrangements. See “—C. Organizational Structure —Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.”

In May 2018, Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Yihao Pharmacy in the PRC. In December 2018, Yihao Pharmacy transferred 100% equity interests in Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. to Yao Fang. In June 2018, Tianjin Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Yihao Pharmacy in the PRC. In July 2018, Kunshan Yifang Pharmacy Co., Ltd. was also established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Yihao Pharmacy in the PRC.

On September 15, 2018, our ADSs commenced trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “YI.” We raised from our initial public offering approximately US$101.2 million in net proceeds (including the net proceeds generated from the offering of additional 809,555 ADSs upon the underwriters’ partial exercise of their over-allotment option), after deducting underwriting commissions and the offering expenses payable by us.

Our principal executive offices are located at 3-5/F, No.295 ZuChongZhi Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 21 2053 6666. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Vistra (Cayman) Limited, P.O. Box 31119, Grand Pavilion Hibiscus Way, 802 West Bay Road, Grand Cayman, KY1-1205, Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Puglisi & Associates, located at 850 Library Avenue, Suite 204, Newark, Delaware 19711.

B.            Business Overview

In 2010, our founders launched 1 Drugstore (1药网), one of the first online retail pharmacies in China. Today, we provide hundreds of millions of consumers with better access to pharmaceutical products and medical services, directly through our online retail pharmacy and indirectly through our offline pharmacy network. In 2016, we commenced our online medical services through our internet hospital, 1 Clinic (1诊), to provide consumers with cost-effective and convenient online consultation and electronic prescription services. Our online wholesale pharmacy, 1 Drug Mall (1药城), serves as a one-stop shop for pharmacies to source a vast selection of pharmaceutical products.

Our New Retail Platform

New Retail aims to improve the efficiency of selling and buying, as well as customer experience, by integrating e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, and logistics with data throughout the value chain. In 2016, we began the transformation from a pure B2C business to a New Retail Platform, integrating our online retail pharmacy and offline pharmacy network by leveraging our smart supply chain and cloud-based solutions. This model allows us to collect and analyze data from a large number of transactions, which we use to continuously increase the efficiency of our smart supply chain, and the intelligence of our cloud-based solutions.

Our Ecosystem

We connect pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals, insurance companies and consumers in our ecosystem, and we improve the efficiency and transparency of the pharmaceutical value chain. We create value for various participants in our integrated online and offline platform in the healthcare ecosystem in China: (i) consumers who purchase pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products and seek medical services; (ii) pharmacies, including independent pharmacies, pharmacy chains and in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals who purchase pharmaceutical products and interact with consumers through our platform; (iii) suppliers, such as pharmaceutical companies and distributors; (iv) marketplace sellers, who use our platform to distribute and sell their products; (v) insurance companies, which are integral to the roll out of our new closed-loop internet “healthcare + pharma” pharmacy benefits management model and (vi) medical professionals who provide healthcare services through our platform.

Our Products and Services to Consumers

Our Online Retail Pharmacy

Our online retail pharmacy is an integral part of our holistic online and offline platform. In 2010, our founders launched our online retail pharmacy, 1 Drugstore, to fulfill the healthcare needs of consumers. 1 Drugstore is currently available through our 1 Drugstore app or website. We provide consumers with a wide variety of pharmaceutical products and other merchandise, including drugs, nutritional supplements, contact lenses, medical supplies and devices, personal care products as well as baby products. We operate our online retail pharmacy under either direct sales model or the marketplace model.

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Our Direct Sales Model

In our online direct sales model, we acquire products from suppliers and sell them directly to consumers. For this model, we need to manage inventories to ensure effective inventory management and may adjust inventory level based on fluctuation in supply and prices, seasonality, popularity of a particular product, and we also take into consideration the shelf life. See “—Supply Chain Management—Inventory Management.” Under this model, we also operate our independent branded storefronts in leading e-commerce platforms in China such as Tmall.com and JD.com. We pay these third-party e-commerce platforms commissions as a percentage of sales.

Our Marketplace Model

We introduced an online marketplace in 2016 to leverage our brand recognition, large and growing customer base, and proprietary technology platform. Under our marketplace model, third-party sellers offer products to consumers over our online marketplace. As of December 31, 2018, we had over 250 marketplace sellers on 1 Drugstore, including online pharmacies.

We facilitate transactions between marketplace sellers and consumers through our marketplace. We provide transaction processing and billing services on all orders on our online marketplace, while the marketplace sellers are responsible for inventory management, fulfillment and delivery. We require marketplace sellers to meet our standards for authenticity and reliability. We aim to offer consumers the same high quality customer experience regardless of the source of the products they choose.

We collect commission fees and platform usage fees from marketplace sellers according to the terms of our individual contracts with them. The commission fees are generally charged as a percentage of sales, depending on product category, among other things. We also charge a fixed annual platform usage fees to marketplace sellers for maintaining storefronts on our platform. We provide order processing services for all orders on our online marketplace.

Our Offline Retail Pharmacy

We also operate a network of offline retail pharmacies branded as “Yi Hao Pharmacy,” mainly in Guangdong province, which enables us, as required by the relevant laws and regulations, to operate our online pharmaceutical retail businesses. As of December 31, 2018, we had 12 offline retail pharmacies in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin and Kunshan. Revenue contribution from our Yi Hao Pharmacies was insignificant in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Our Product Offerings to Consumers

We carry diverse and comprehensive products in our online retail and offline retail pharmacies. Our unique integrated retail and wholesale supply chain and inventory management combines the management of retail and wholesale SKUs. The merchandise offered by us and the marketplace sellers can be broadly classified into the following major categories:

Drugs. We display drugs, including prescription drugs and over-the counter, or OTC, drugs such as western medicines and traditional Chinese medicines.

Nutritional supplements. We display nutritional supplements, including a variety of vitamins, and dietary products.

Contact lenses. We offer a comprehensive selection of contact lenses that cover all major brands.

Medical supplies and devices. We offer a variety of general purpose medical supplies and devices such as bandages and thermometers.

Other products. Our other products include personal care products such as skin care, birth control, sexual wellness products as well as baby products.

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We also sell seasonal and promotional items tailored to local consumer demand for convenience and quality. In 2017, we further expanded our product offerings by introducing more health and wellness products and smart wearable devices. We believe that offering these products increases the order size spend per visit by meeting the growing demand for one-stop shopping convenience.

Consumers can browse our products by category or scan barcodes of drugs they find in store and easily find them on our online retail pharmacy.

Pricing and Payment of Products

We offer competitive pricing to attract and retain consumers. Under the direct sales model, prices are set by us with reference to major online and offline competitors, taking into account our overall pricing strategy for different categories. We believe our prices are generally lower than those of offline pharmacy chains and independent pharmacies. We constantly monitor the prices of products offered by our competitors through our pricing intelligence system. See “—Technology and IT Infrastructure— Cloud-based Applications.” Under our marketplace model, sellers are free to set their own prices, but are encouraged to set comparable and competitive prices. We also occasionally offer significant discounts on certain products for a limited time in flash sales or other promotional activities, including our anniversary sale and “November 11 sale.” We make continuous efforts to maintain and improve an efficient cost structure and create incentives for our suppliers to provide us with competitive prices.

We provide our consumers flexible payment options for both direct sales and marketplace models. Our payment options include in-person settlement (which is required and the only option for the purchase of prescription drugs), bank transfers, online payments with credit cards and debit cards, and payment through third-party online payment platforms, such as WeChat Payment and Alipay. For fulfillment and delivery options, please see “—Supply Chain Management—Fulfillment and Delivery.”

Our Online Consultation and E-prescription Services

We strive to provide our consumers with convenient access not only to pharmaceutical products, but also to medical services. We commenced our online consultation services, through 1 Clinic, a licensed internet hospital operated by us, in 2016, to address the need for cost-effective and convenient evaluation of health and medical conditions. Our online consultation utilizes a user-friendly interface embedded in 1 Drugstore website and app designed to empower consumers to remotely access healthcare. This service covers a wide range of conditions and cases, with a primary focus on common and chronic illnesses. For conditions that require in person or further examination or laboratory testing, we generally refer our consumers to hospitals.

Consumers access our online consultations primarily through photo and text consultations, phone calls and video consultations. They can select a doctor of their choosing based on the doctor’s availability and his/her profile displayed on our platform. Our photo and text consultation sessions are offered to consumers for free. We typically charge a fixed amount of fees per consultation session for consultations through video and online assisted telephone calls, which differ based on the type of consultation used and are paid through our convenient online payment system.

The first step to utilize our services is to provide basic personal information, descriptions of conditions and any medical records or laboratory test results through our online platform. Each medical consultation session typically lasts around 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the complexity of the case. Based on the consumer’s response to inquiries on the condition at issue, the doctor provides medical recommendations, issues prescriptions, or advises the consumer to have an examination conducted at a hospital and uploads the results to our system.

As of December 31, 2018, our medical team comprised nearly 90 full-time in-house medical professionals, and over 2,000 external doctors registered on our platform.

We provide ongoing training and professional development programs to our in-house medical professionals. We conduct weekly evaluations of our in-house doctors and medical assistants in respect of quality of service, user feedback and efficiency. We have also adopted a quality control system with standardized protocols for our services performed by our in-house medical team. We contract services from external doctors who practice at reputable hospitals with significant experience and appropriate credentials. We require external doctors to register with us and to agree to our terms of use, pursuant to which they must comply with both our specified work scope and quality requirements, and the applicable rules and regulations. See “—Risk Management and Internal Control—Healthcare Service Quality and Safety.”

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We offer e-prescription services to consumers as an integral part of the online consultation process, subject to our stringent compliance procedures. Each of our prescriptions is issued by qualified doctors. The e-prescription services is also available when a consumer needs to purchase a prescription drug through the offline pharmacy network. See “—Our Products and Services to Pharmacies—Our Cloud Prescription Services.”

Customer Service and Satisfaction

Providing satisfactory customer services is a high priority. Our commitment to consumers is reflected in the high service quality provided by our customer service staff and speedy fulfillment and delivery services. We have high levels of customer satisfaction, as evidenced by a customer satisfaction rate over 98.4% on 1 Drugstore in 2018.

Our Products and Services to Pharmacies

We have enabled more than 150,000 offline pharmacies to better serve their consumers, as of December 31, 2018. This network of pharmacies represents the largest virtual pharmacy network in the world in terms of the number of pharmacy stores, as of May 18, 2018, according to Frost & Sullivan. The pharmacy customers we serve include small and medium-sized retail pharmacy chains, independent pharmacies and in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals, spanning across 31 provinces in China.

Our Online Wholesale Pharmacy

We provide comprehensive, intelligent and integrated distribution solutions through our online wholesale pharmacy, 1 Drug Mall, available both through our 1 Drug Mall app and website. Overall, our business involves a process of sourcing from suppliers, warehousing, processing orders and invoicing, payment collection and delivering to pharmacies. These pharmacy customers include independent pharmacies, pharmacy chains, in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals, as well as certain select distributors that have both retail and wholesale businesses.

1 Drug Mall features an extensive selection of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products sourced from pharmaceutical companies and other suppliers. A substantial majority of prescription and OTC drugs displayed on 1 Drug Mall are available under our direct sales model. Our broad and fast-growing product offerings enable us to satisfy the purchasing needs of our pharmacy customers. Meanwhile, our strong sourcing capability, coupled with our highly cost-effective distribution model, enables us to bypass traditional layers of the distribution network to provide competitive prices to our pharmacy customers.

Our Direct Sales Model

We primarily conduct our wholesale distribution business through our direct sales model, where we procure pharmaceutical products from pharmaceutical companies or distributors and sell to our pharmacy customers. As of December 31, 2018, we directly sourced from 93 pharmaceutical companies and 275 distributors. Leveraging our strong relationship with our suppliers, we offer a comprehensive selection of pharmaceutical products at market-competitive pricing. Under the direct sales model, we are responsible for the fulfillment and delivery of the products sold.

Our Marketplace Model

We also operate an online marketplace where third-party sellers can directly sell to pharmacies. These marketplace sellers primarily consist of traditional offline distributors. They leverage our platform and customer base to grow their business, while at the same time complementing our product offerings under our direct sales model. Our marketplace business model under our wholesale business is similar in many respects to our retail business, including the charging model. For a detailed discussion, please see “—Our Products and Services to Consumers—Our Marketplace Model.”

Payment, Exchange and Return

We generally require advance payment or payment-upon-delivery for purchases. For certain select pharmacy customers, we may grant a credit period of up to a month. We generally do not offer product return and exchange service unless the damages are caused by our fault.

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Our Cloud-based Inventory Management Services

Most of our pharmacy customers, in particular, independent pharmacies and in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals, do not have a comprehensive inventory and demand forecast system. Purchases by these customers are primarily made based on historical experience, and their inventory turnover days are generally long due to a lack of detailed, precise planning and bulk purchase patterns. In addition, their inventory level is subject to fluctuations as a result of seasonal or other factors beyond their control.

Our online wholesale pharmacy, featuring a vast selection of pharmaceutical products and speedy delivery, enables cloud-based inventory management. Pharmacy customers, rather than relying on advance but often imprecise planning, can collaborate with us for inventory visibility and on-demand offering. We simplify and streamline the procurement process and shorten the procurement cycle. Our pharmacy customers typically do not need to negotiate or enter into any purchase and sale agreement or make any purchase commitment. The purchase orders of our pharmacy customers on 1 Drug Mall are processed in real time. Typically, the order processing will take less than eight minutes, after which orders will be dispatched for delivery through our fulfillment network. The inventory on demand and just-in-time delivery offer significant benefits to our pharmacy customers. Instead of bulk purchases and maintaining large inventory, pharmacies procure their inventory with more precision, reducing their working capital needs and enabling them to quickly respond to market demand. As a result, we are able to improve the inventory turnover of our pharmacy customers.

Our Cloud Prescription Services

Pharmacies, especially independent pharmacies and small-to-medium sized pharmacy chains, often lack onsite doctors to offer prescriptions to consumers with minor ailments or chronic diseases visiting their stores. In 2018, we began to use our cloud prescription services to leverage our existing online consultation and e-prescription service platform to offer convenient online consultation services to these consumers onsite. Once consumers obtain their prescriptions from us, they will be able to purchase prescription drugs from our pharmacy customers. In return for our services, we charge our pharmacy customers a fixed amount of annual service fees. The annual service fees vary, depending on the number of online consultations performed, the number of e-prescriptions issued, and the amount of drugs purchased in connection with our services. As of December 31, 2018, we offered cloud prescription services to around 3,200 pharmacies located in 20 provinces in China. In the fourth quarter of 2018, in connection with our cloud prescription services, we performed around 3,600 online consultations and issued approximately 3,200 e-prescriptions on average per day.

Our Smart Procurement Services

Leveraging our extensive experience in inventory management and our data analytics capabilities, we launched our smart procurement services in the first quarter of 2018 to cooperate with pharmacies to collect their historical purchase orders and inventory data. We then typically analyze historical purchase patterns, the location of the pharmacy and regional supply and demand information, any epidemic status and trend, and current pricing and promotions. Through our proprietary big data analytic platform and sophisticated prediction model, we can make individualized purchase recommendations for our pharmacy customers’ review.

Given our broad reach within the pharmaceutical value chain, we believe that we will be able to detect trends in the industry and forecast demand, therefore, meeting the procurement needs of pharmacies through our customized generated purchase orders. Our smart procurement service is also capable of comparing prices across different sellers on our platform to ensure the best pricing for our pharmacy customers. As pharmacy customers gradually increase the use of our services, we believe that we can accumulate data to optimize our own supply chain management, while providing better solutions to both pharmacies and upstream suppliers with more relevant service offerings.

Customer Experience

We are committed to optimizing and achieving satisfaction of our pharmacy customers. This commitment drives every aspect of our operations, which are focused on five core components: extensive product offerings, competitive pricing, transformational online procurement processes and frequent customer engagement, as well as timely and accurate fulfillment. We also build customer loyalty and encourage pharmacies to make repurchases by actively engaging with them. After assisting our pharmacy customers to open accounts and establishing initial relationships, our on-the-ground sales force frequently liaise with these pharmacies via in-person visits, telephone calls or other social network tools to share the latest promotional information and drive repeat purchases. We also use data insight provided by digital CSO to guide our on-the-ground sales force to strength our customer acquisition and operation effectiveness.

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Our Services to Pharmaceutical Companies

We source products from pharmaceutical companies and distributors, while at the same time providing them with data services and other value-added services.

Data Services

Leveraging our direct reach to many touchpoints of the healthcare and pharmaceutical value chain, we launched our data services in 2018 on a pilot basis to help our pharmaceutical companies expand their reach and gain valuable insights to the distribution channel and consumers. We compile, aggregate and analyze our detailed sales data to uncover purchase patterns and predict future purchase behaviors and demand. With our broad consumer base, we can extract valuable information from our extensive database. For a particular product, we analyze the regional and seasonal sales patterns, the amounts of orders, the frequency of purchases, any particular preference for packaging, and other factors that may affect sales. Data mining of our available data is a powerful tool to predict consumer behaviors and market trends, allowing pharmaceutical companies to make knowledge-driven decisions in their sales forecasts and budgeting. For a discussion of our pricing intelligence system, see “—Technology and IT Infrastructure—Cloud-based Applications.”

Digital Contract Sales Organization (CSO) Services

In 2018, we launched our digital CSO services and began to work with a number of pharmaceutical companies on a pilot basis. Our digital CSO services connect upstream pharmaceutical companies, midstream distributors and downstream pharmacies and pharmaceutical sales representatives, enabling real-time tracing of sales and other related intelligence and empowering pharmaceutical companies with marketing capabilities. Our digital CSO services can be accessed through different portals such as WeChat, our App and Web portal. For pharmaceutical sales representatives who are connected to CSO, we provide CRM, purchase order management and digital marketing and promotion services. For pharmacies, we provide patient education and pharmacist training. Our digital CSO services generally include activities such as brand events, online medical and product trainings and promotions at pharmacies.

Our Services to Medical Professionals

We provide medical professionals with services to enable them to better serve patients and improve service quality.

E-medical Record and Patient Management

We create and maintain, in secured electronic storage, a copy of electronic medical records for certain consumers. These e-medical records allow consumers to access past consultation history and communicate with doctors for follow-up or new consultations. Our cloud-based platform and e-medical record services also enable more efficient patient management by doctors. Doctors use our system for reviewing e-medical records with the patient’s consent.

Pharmacopoeia

Pharmacopoeia is an online medical encyclopedia that enables doctors, pharmacists and other medical professionals, especially those of our pharmacy customers, to offer trustworthy health information to end users. Its searchable database features a comprehensive range of information relating to different types of drugs, including their indications, directions and usage, side effects, precautions and interactions with other drugs. It also provides health and wellness information and tips. Medical professionals can search drugs by medical condition, drug name, symptoms or otherwise browse our homepage of pharmacopoeia.

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Suppliers

We have an extensive network of suppliers, consisting primarily of pharmaceutical companies and distributors. As of December 31, 2018, we directly sourced from 93 pharmaceutical companies and 275 distributors. We believe that competitive sources are readily available for substantially all of the merchandise we carry on our platform, and we have diversified our procurement sources to obtain more favorable terms and minimize our inventory risk.

Supplier Selection

When choosing suppliers, we take into consideration, among other things, whether their products complement our overall product offering, the quality and prices of their products, market reputation, production and/or distribution capacity and the market potential of their products. Before we engage with any new supplier, we also examine their qualifications and licenses to verify that they operate their businesses in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Our Relationship with Pharmaceutical Companies and Key Suppliers

We have dedicated teams that work closely with our top suppliers, especially pharmaceutical companies, to strengthen our relationships with them. For the same product, the price from a pharmaceutical company is generally lower than from a distributor. We aim for qualification by major pharmaceutical companies as a “tier one” distributor so as to directly source from them. As of December 31, 2018, we have obtained such qualifications from 93 pharmaceutical companies and directly source from them. We also seek to cooperate with other “tier one” distributors who may have negotiated attractive prices for particular products. Our cooperation with these suppliers allows us to expand our product offerings and procure products manufactured by pharmaceutical companies without an established relationship with us. We intend to help pharmaceutical companies expand their end user base by leveraging our network of pharmacies. We also provide them with customized channel management services, as well as data flow, operational support, marketing, user data analysis and other value-added services. Together with pharmaceutical companies, we work to develop medical know-how including academic content and product trainings.

Supply Chain Management

We combine advanced technologies and supply chain optimization techniques to integrate the front and the back end of the supply chain and optimize our inventory management. Our unique integrated retail and wholesale supply chain and inventory management allow us to share inventories among 1 Drugstore, 1 Drug Mall, and Yi Hao Pharmacy, significantly increasing our operational efficiency. Supported by our proprietary supply chain management systems, efficiently designed supply chain protocols and processes, strategically located fulfillment centers and nationwide fulfillment network, our supply chain enables inventory on demand and just-in-time delivery for our consumers. As a result of our advanced supply chain management system, we have seen tangible improvements in our own and our customers’ efficiency levels.

Supply Chain Technologies and Systems

Our supply chain management system consists of four separate subsystems supported by proprietary software that allows us to effectively collaborate with third-party service providers and interact with our consumers and pharmacy customers. All of our systems are designed to comply with Good Supply Practices (GSP) for pharmaceutical products, and connect with provincial food and drug administrations for real-time monitoring.

Warehouse Management System (WMS). We customize our proprietary warehouse management system to meet the specific needs of our pharmaceutical distribution business. Our WMS enables us to closely monitor each step of the fulfillment process from guiding inventory receiving and put-away, optimizing picking and shipping of orders and advising on inventory replenishment. Our advanced WMS software optimizes our warehouse space and employees’ time, supports paperless material handling in a digital WMS environment and automates the interaction between our employees and material handling equipment, such as conveyor belts. For example, we developed advanced algorithms to optimize picking, packing and shipping. At each fulfillment center, inventory is bar-coded and tracked through our management information system, allowing real-time monitoring of inventory levels across our fulfillment network and item tracking at each fulfillment center. Our shelf space hosts the same inventory for both our wholesale and retail businesses, while the assignment and allocation logics are designed to cater to the different requirements for fast-moving and long-tail products, optimizing fulfillment efficiency. The seamless connection with our other supply chain management modules has led to increased inventory accuracy, greater space utilization, increased warehouse productivity and improved customer service.

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Transportation Management System (TMS). Our transportation management system enables full operational control and visibility from dispatch to delivery, and from invoicing to receivables collections. Our TMS is integrated with third-party accounting systems. All of these systems are customer-oriented and allow for full shipment tracking and visibility, as well as for customer shipment input.

Procurement Management System (PMS). Our procurement management system promotes transparency and compliance. It consists of various modules with different levels of authorizations to different personnel. We are in the process of developing our data platform that is fully compatible with and can connect to many of our suppliers’ ordering systems to allow seamless information exchange. We expect the new system to enhance the efficiency of various aspects of our purchase process, such as stocking and account settlement.

Order Management System (OMS). Our order management system allows us to manage inventory cost and pricing, and process orders from both pharmacy customers and consumers. It also provides us with flexible pricing and promotions to satisfy our customers’ needs. Our order management system enhances our visibility into our customers’ preferences, merchandise and supply chain, resulting in improved customer service, improved operational efficiency, enhanced management analytics and increased inventory synergies.

Inventory Management

We manage our inventory, both retail and wholesale, in an integrated manner. Our inventory, fulfillment and delivery services are centrally managed from our headquarters. Our inventory management allows our retail and wholesale businesses to access and share all of our inventory resources.

We continually seek to improve our inventory control and minimize inventory risk. We analyze historical sales data and days in inventory to establish inventory management plans. We may adjust our inventory management plans based on factors such as fluctuations in supply and prices, seasonality and sales of a particular product. Our inventory optimization model uses sophisticated algorithms to help determine when to replenish an SKU. We also perform regular spot inventory counts in our fulfillment centers. We monitor the shelf life of our pharmaceutical products by conducting periodic reviews, and either make sales promotion plans or make inventory write-downs depending on the status of the inventory.

Our inventory includes high level of stock for certain products that we consider as strategic reserves. These products are generally purchased at favorable price terms, and have a long shelf life. They also help us preempt possible industry-wide shortages.

Fulfillment and Delivery

As of December 31, 2018, our fulfillment network consists of four regional fulfillment centers strategically located in Guangzhou in Guangdong Province in Southern China, Kunshan in Jiangsu Province in Eastern China (which is within close proximity of Shanghai), Tianjin in Northern China and Chongqing in Western China. In the future, we plan to selectively establish additional fulfillment centers to improve our geographical coverage while maintaining our operational efficiency.

We leverage our large-scale operations and reputation to obtain favorable contractual terms from third-party delivery companies. To reduce the risk of reliance on any single delivery company, we typically contract with two or more regional delivery companies in each major city. We regularly monitor and review the delivery companies’ performance and their compliance with our contractual terms. In addition, we typically require the delivery companies to pay deposits or provide payment guarantees before providing services to us. We typically negotiate and enter into logistics agreements on an annual basis.

We are generally able to deliver to major cities in 23 provinces within 24 hours, and nationwide within 72 hours.

Risk Management and Internal Control

We have adopted and implemented various policies and procedures to ensure rigorous risk management and internal control, and we are dedicated to continually improving these policies and procedures.

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Our risk management and internal control policies and procedures cover various aspects of our business operations such as product safety, healthcare quality and safety, regulatory risk management, government affairs and regulatory compliance.

Product Quality and Safety

We place strong emphasis on quality and safety of the products we sell on our platform. We conduct random quality inspections of products we procure, and reject the shipment if it fails to meet our quality standards. Our quality control department rigorously implements quality control procedures.

Healthcare Service Quality and Safety

We value the quality and safety of the healthcare services we provide. We strive to minimize medical risks arising from our operations. We have never received any written notice or penalty for material non-compliance or violation of healthcare service quality and safety laws or regulations, nor have we received any recommendation for improvement with respect to healthcare service quality and safety from any government authority.

The skills, competence and attitude of our in-house medical team are essential for the quality of care that our users receive. We continually monitor the risk in relation to services provided by our in-house medical team to ensure the risk management policies and procedures have been strictly followed, so as to achieve effective and efficient governance, risk and control processes.

We have adopted stringent hiring procedures for doctors, pharmacists and medical assistants, which involve in-person interviews and assessments of technical knowledge. Our in-house medical team receives regular training on relevant safety policies, standards, protocols and procedures and is required to strictly comply with them in all aspects of our operations. We conduct frequent evaluations of our in-house doctors, pharmacists and medical assistants.

For external doctors, we generally require them to provide us with their qualifications and licenses and to strictly adhere to the work scope and quality requirements specified in their service agreements in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

For healthcare institutions to which we refer our consumers, we consider a variety of factors such as reputation, scale of business, service quality and capability, as well as their facilities. We typically require healthcare institutions who cooperate with us to maintain requisite licenses, comply with relevant laws and regulations and follow our service guidelines. We also carefully monitor feedback from our consumers on the services provided by these healthcare institutions, and take that into consideration when determining our continued cooperation with such healthcare institutions. We are not responsible for any losses to our consumers resulting from disputes or breach of obligations in relation to the provision of the relevant services.

Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management

We have a dedicated public relations department, consisting of government relations and public relations teams and with a leader who has over 10 years of experience in regulatory compliance and risk management in Fortune 500 companies. We have designed and adopted strict internal procedures to ensure compliance of our business operations with all relevant laws and regulations and have established a code of conduct to regulate employee behavior and activities. In addition, we continually review the implementation of our risk management policies and measures to ensure our policies and implementation are effective and sufficient.

We work closely with relevant government agencies that have jurisdiction over our business. We maintain frequent communications with government agencies before implementing new business initiatives or when regulatory uncertainties arise as new laws or regulations are promulgated. We actively provide our inputs on proposed regulations that are subject to public comments. We are often invited to comment on proposed regulations by relevant government authorities during the comment solicitation process.

As part of our risk management and internal control measures, we have adopted a series of internal regulations against corrupt and fraudulent activities, which include measures against receiving bribes and kickbacks, and misuse of company assets. We have anti-corruption and anti-bribery clauses in a majority of our major business contracts, and we require our suppliers and other third parties who cooperate with us to comply with relevant laws and regulations.

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Data Privacy and Protection

We are committed to protecting information and privacy of our consumers and other participants on our platform. We have developed a company-wide policy on data security to preserve individual personal information and privacy. We strictly comply with laws and regulations and do not distribute or sell our users’ personal data for any purpose. We encrypt user data in network transmissions and in backend storage to ensure confidentiality. To minimize the risk of data loss, we conduct regular data backup and data recovery tests. Our database can only be accessed by certain designated and authorized personnel after assessment and approval procedures, whose actions are recorded and monitored.

Technology and IT Infrastructure

Our proprietary technology is one of our core competitive advantages. As of December 31, 2018, our technology and IT team consisted of 293 employees, including core team members with extensive experience with leading internet, online retail and e-commerce companies in China. We have built our technology platform primarily relying on proprietary software and systems that we have developed in-house. We develop and maintain various online platforms that connect the respective systems of various participants in the healthcare ecosystem, enabling them to access our services and connect with other participants in the ecosystem. As a result, they are able to conveniently share information and conduct their operations efficiently over our platform.

Data Collection, Aggregation and Analytics and Transaction Support

Our data assets are the backbone of our data analytics capabilities. We collect data under various scenarios across the entire pharmaceutical value chain. The high volumes of traffic over our platform have brought us large amounts of data, collected with the consumer’s due authorization. Our strong data mining and user behavior analytics capabilities allow us to build a comprehensive profile for each consumer. Data analytics is extensively used in various aspects of our operations.

In addition, we collect a wealth of data on our supply chain, such as cost per delivery, delivery time requirements, positive customer feedback and other similar indicators. Based on our extensive database of supply chain information, we create operational goals and insights, including optimal time by which deliveries must be made to elicit positive consumer feedback and optimal delivery routes that minimize cost per delivery. We use the data we possess to simplify supply chain management, enabling our business to operate more efficiently, giving us more visibility and control over our inventory and reducing our operational costs. For discussion of our supply chain management and related technologies, please see “—Supply Chain Management.”

Cloud-based Applications

Our platform is built on highly scalable and reliable cloud-based technology architecture that can accommodate the increasing scale and complexity of our business operations. Our IT framework includes service-oriented architecture, business intelligence, single sign-on, ERP Open API, pay component, image recognition, message-oriented middleware, task scheduling center and radio frequency identification, or RFID. Service-oriented architecture is a style of software design where services are provided to the other components by application components. ERP Open API is standardized API, or application programming interface, that is compatible with different ERP systems adopted by pharmacy customers. Message-oriented middleware is a software or hardware infrastructure that supports sending and receiving messages between distributed systems, allowing application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reducing the complexity of developing applications that span across multiple operating systems and network protocols. We are able to rapidly enroll consumers, pharmacy customers and suppliers onto our platform and seamlessly include them in our system.

Our sophisticated CRM system enables us to effectively gather, analyze and use customer data to plan customized marketing activities. In addition, we also provide our data insights to pharmacies and marketplace sellers to help them optimize their sales and marketing strategies. Our CRM system enables us to reduce costs and increase profitability through increased customer loyalty and attention. Our online platform for doctors also has a CRM system and lays the foundation of patient management and assists the interaction between medical professionals.

Our business intelligence system provides operational analysis, sales forecasts and other application-oriented intelligent products that facilitate data-driven decision making. One such application is our pricing intelligence system, which applies data mining techniques to discover, match, extract and report on competitive pricing data to optimize our pricing strategy relative to our competition. This pricing intelligence system helps us gain a better understanding of our price position in the market and make automatic adjustments to thousands of our SKUs. We also use our pricing intelligence system to provide data services to pharmaceutical companies. See “—Our Services to Pharmaceutical Companies.”

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Our IT Infrastructure

We are committed to maintaining a secure online platform. We have built a firewall that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing traffic on our platform 24/7. Once any abnormal activity is detected, our system will immediately notify our IT team and simultaneously take automatic protective and remedial measures, such as activating third-party traffic control services, to prevent any harm to our platform. We conduct periodic reviews of our technology platform identifying and correcting problems that may undermine our system security.

Our stable IT infrastructure is hosted by two separate cloud service providers. We achieve redundancy and reliability of our network through a real-time multi-layer data backup system. Our platform adopts modular architecture that consists of multiple connected components, each of which can be separately upgraded and replaced without compromising the functioning of other components. This makes our platform both highly reliable and scalable.

Our platform is scalable and can be easily expanded as data storage requirements and user visits increase. In addition, load balancing technology helps us improve distribution of workloads across multiple computing components, optimizing resource utilization and minimizing response time.

Sales and Marketing

Our marketing and promotion strategy is to build brand recognition, increase customer traffic, attract new customers, build strong customer loyalty and develop incremental revenue opportunities.

We employ a variety of methods to attract potential consumers. Generally, we expand our user base on our marketplace through search engines, social media and word-of-mouth referrals. We offer incentives to new consumers and pharmacy customers who make purchases for the first time on our platform. We also offer flash sales and brand promotion events on our website and mobile application to engage with existing consumers in an effort to increase retention and repurchases. Our principal marketing programs include advertising our company and our solutions through our mobile platform and other media.

We acquire pharmacy customers primarily through our effective on-the-ground sales operation to allow rapid expansion of our wholesale business. We have full-time employees who visit independent pharmacies, pharmacy chains and in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals to promote our online wholesale pharmacy and our inventory management services. We also hire independent contractors who work for us on a commission-basis to promote our products and services to pharmacies through our “City Partners” program. We also coordinate market development and promotion efforts for our pharmacy customers, which may include flash sales, seasonal sales discounts and rebates.

Competition

We believe our business model is unique and our services encompass the entire pharmaceutical value chain. We believe there are no comparable companies that directly compete with us. However, we face intense competition in certain business segments and verticals:

·                  we compete against other pharmaceutical retail companies including traditional offline pharmacies and online platforms, such as Ali Health and JD.com; and

·                  we also face competition from numerous B2B platforms and traditional pharmaceutical distributors.

We believe that our ability to compete effectively depends on many factors, including the variety of our products, our pricing competitiveness, user experience on our platform, our technological leadership, effectiveness of our risk management, our partnership with third parties, our marketing and selling efforts and the strength and reputation of our brands.

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Furthermore, as our business continues to grow rapidly, we face significant competition for highly skilled personnel, including management, engineers, product managers and risk management personnel. The success of our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to retain existing personnel and add additional highly skilled employees. We believe that our early mover advantage and leading market position help us to compete efficiently against our competitors.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. We have registered 18 software copyrights with the PRC National Copyright Administration. We have 26 registered domain names, including 111.com.cn and yaoex.com. As of December 31, 2018, we had 259 registered trademarks, including our “1药网” trademark. As of December 31, 2018, we have applied for three patents with the PRC State Intellectual Property Office.

Insurance

We maintain property insurance policies covering certain equipment and other property that are essential to our business operations to safeguard against risks and unexpected events. We also provide social security insurance including pension, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, on-the-job injury insurance and housing fund plans through a PRC government-mandated benefit contribution plan for our employees. We maintain product liability insurance. We also maintain professional malpractice insurance for our in-house licensed medical practitioners and some of our external doctors. We do not maintain business interruption insurance. We consider our insurance coverage to be sufficient for our business operations in China.

Regulations

This section sets forth a summary of the most significant rules and regulations that affect our business activities in China.

Regulation Relating to Foreign Investment

Investment in the PRC conducted by foreign investors and foreign-owned enterprises shall comply with the Guidance Catalogue of Industries for Foreign Investment, or the Catalogue, which was first issued in 1995 and amended from time to time. The current effective Catalogue was promulgated by the MOFCOM and the NDRC in June 2017 and became effective in July 2017, and contains specific provisions guiding market access of foreign capital and stipulates in detail the areas of entry pertaining to the categories of encouraged foreign-invested industries, restricted foreign-invested industries and prohibited foreign-invested industries. The latter two categories are included in the negative list, which was first introduced into the Catalogue in 2017, and listed, in a unified manner, the restrictive measures for the entry of foreign investment. On June 28, 2018, the MOFCOM and the NDRC jointly promulgated the Special Administrative Measures for Access of Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2018 Edition), to replace the negative list attached to the Catalogue in 2017, which took effect on July 28, 2018. Any industry not listed in the Catalogue is a permitted industry and generally open to foreign investment unless specifically prohibited or restricted by PRC laws and regulations. According to the Catalogue, value-added telecommunications services (with the proportion of foreign investment not exceeding 50%, except for e-commerce) and medical institutions (limited to sino-foreign equity joint venture or sino-foreign cooperative joint venture) are restricted for foreign investment. Yao Fang, our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary, is a foreign-invested enterprise and conducts technical services and consultation and sale of goods that falls in permitted industries for foreign investment. Wuhan Central China, our 70% owned PRC subsidiary, is an entity invested by a foreign-invested enterprise and conducts online B2B pharmaceutical e-commerce business which is classified as a type of value-added telecommunications services. It falls in the restricted foreign-invested industry but is not subject to the 50% foreign investment restriction.

In September 2016, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, passed a decision in connection with the revision of four laws, including the trio of laws regulating foreign investment in China, which became effective in October 2016. According to this decision, establishment of a foreign-invested enterprise, or the FIE, in a sector not subject to special entry administrative measures will be simplified by going through government filing instead of a government approval process, which applies to its establishment, separation, merger or other major modifications and operation duration and extension; but the special entry administrative measures are to be separately promulgated or approved to be promulgated by the State Council. According to a notice issued by the NDRC and the MOFCOM in October 2016, the special entry administrative measures shall be applicable and implemented to the restricted foreign-invested industries, prohibited foreign-invested industries and encouraged foreign-invested industries which have requirements as to shareholding and qualifications of senior management stipulated in the then-effective Catalogue. At the same date, the MOFCOM promulgated the Provisional Filing Administrative Measures on Establishment and Modifications for Foreign Investment Enterprises, as amended in July 2017 and June 2018, which request the establishment and modifications of foreign-invested enterprises not subject to the special entry administrative measures, to be filed with the delegated commerce authorities and specify the procedures and requirements for such filing in detail.

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In March 2019, a new draft of Foreign Investment Law was submitted to the National People’s Congress for review and was approved on March 15, 2019, which will come into effect from January 1, 2020 and replace the trio of laws regulating foreign investment in China. Under new Foreign Investment Law, foreign investment refers to investment activity directly or indirectly conducted by foreign natural persons, enterprises or other organizations, including the following circumstances: (i) a foreign investor establishes a foreign-funded enterprise within the territory of China, independently or jointly with any other investor; (ii) a foreign investor acquires shares, equities, property shares or any other similar rights and interests of an enterprise within the territory of China; (iii) a foreign investor makes investment to initiate a new project within the territory of China, independently or jointly with any other investor; and (iv) a foreign investor makes investment in any other way stipulated by laws, administrative regulations or provisions of the State Council. Foreign investors shall not invest in any field forbidden by the negative list for access of foreign investment and shall conform to the investment conditions stipulated under the negative list for any field restricted by the negative list. Fields not included in the negative list shall be managed under the principle that domestic investment and foreign investment shall be treated uniformly. In addition, a foreign investment information reporting system shall be established and foreign investors or foreign-funded enterprises shall submit the investment information to competent departments for commerce through the enterprise registration system and the enterprise credit information publicity system.

Our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, as a foreign-invested enterprise, is not subject to the special entry administrative measures and has filed with the competent commerce authority for its establishment and modification as requested. Our PRC subsidiary, Wuhan Central China, an entity invested by a foreign-invested enterprise and conducts business which falls in the restricted foreign-invested industry, has obtained the approval from and made filing with the competent commerce authority for its modifications. Our variable interest entities which are not foreign-invested enterprises are not required to be filed with commercial authorities under such measures.

In August 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the MOFCOM, jointly adopted the M&A Rules, which became effective in September 2006 and were amended in 2009. The M&A Rules also establish procedures and requirements that could make certain acquisitions of PRC companies by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. In addition, according to the Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors issued by the General Office of the State Council in February 2011, the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors issued by the MOFCOM in August 2011, mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the MOFCOM, and the regulations prohibit any activities attempting to bypass such security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement.

Regulation Relating to Value-added Telecommunications Services

Telecommunications Regulations

The Telecommunications Regulations of the People’s Republic of China, or the Telecom Regulations, promulgated in September 2000 and amended in July 2014 and February 2016 respectively, are the primary PRC laws governing telecommunication services, and set out the general framework for the provision of telecommunication services by domestic PRC companies. The Telecom Regulations require that telecommunications service providers obtain operating licenses prior to commencing operations. The Telecom Regulations draw a distinction between “basic telecommunications services” and “value-added telecommunications services.” The catalogue of Telecommunications Business, or the Telecom Catalogue, issued as an attachment to the Telecom Regulations, identifies information services and online data and transaction processing services as value-added telecommunications services.

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In July 2017, the MIIT issued the revised Measures on the Administration of Telecommunications Business Operating Permits, or the Telecom License Measures, which became effective in September 2017, to supplement the Telecom Regulations. The Telecom License Measures require that an operator of value-added telecommunications services obtain a value-added telecommunications business operating license, from the MIIT or its provincial level counterparts. The term of a license for value-added telecommunication business is five years and subject to annual inspection. Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain has obtained the Value-Added Telecommunications Services Operating License for conducing information services and online data and transaction processing services (e-commerce only), while Wuhan Central China has obtained the value-added telecommunications services operating license to conduct online data and transaction processing services (e-commerce only).

Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications

Foreign direct investment in telecommunications companies in China is also regulated by the Regulations for the Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, or the FITE Regulations, which were issued by the State Council in December 2001 and amended in September 2008 and February 2016, respectively. The FITE Regulations stipulate that a foreign invested telecommunications enterprise in the PRC, or the FITE, must be established as a sino-foreign equity joint venture for operations in the PRC. Under the FITE Regulations and in accordance with WTO-related agreements, the foreign party investing in a FITE engaging in value-added telecommunications services may hold up to 50% of the equity interests of the FITE. In addition, the major foreign party to be the shareholder of the FITE must satisfy a number of stringent performance and operational experience requirements, including demonstrating a good track record and experience in operating a value-added telecommunications business. The FITE that meets these requirements must obtain approvals from the MIIT and the MOFCOM or its counterparts, which retain considerable discretion in granting approvals. Furthermore, the foreign party investing in e-commerce business, as a type of value-added telecommunication services, has been allowed to hold up to 100% of the equity interests of the FITE based on the Notice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Removing the Restrictions on Foreign Equity Ratios in Online Data Processing and Transaction Processing (Operating E-commerce) Business issued on in June 2015 and the current effective Telecom Catalogue.

In July 2006, the Ministry of Information Industry, which was restructured and integrated into the MIIT, promulgated the Notice of the Ministry of Information Industry on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-added Telecommunications Services, or the MII Notice, which reiterates certain requirements of the FITE Regulations and strengthens the administration by the MII. Under the MII Notice, if a foreign investor intends to invest in a PRC value-added telecommunications business, the FITE must be established to apply for a telecommunications business license applicable to the business. In addition, a domestic company that holds a license for the provision of value-added telecommunications services is prohibited from leasing, transferring or selling the license to foreign investors in any form, and from providing any assistance, including providing resources, sites or facilities, to foreign investors to conduct value-added telecommunications businesses illegally in China. Trademarks and domain names that are used in the provision of value-added telecommunications services must be owned by the license holder or its shareholders. The MII Notice also requires that each value-added telecommunications services license holder have appropriate facilities for its approved business operations and to maintain such facilities in the business regions covered by its license. Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain, our variable interests entity holding the value-added telecommunications services license, owns the domain names, trademarks, and facilities which are appropriate for the telecommunication business provided by Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain.

Internet Information Services

In September 2000, the State Council promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services, or the ICP Measures, as amended in 2011. Under the ICP Measures, the internet information services is divided into commercial internet information services and non-commercial internet services. The operators of non-commercial internet information services must file with relevant governmental authorities and operators of commercial internet information services in China must obtain a license for internet information provision, or ICP license, from the relevant governmental authorities, and the provision of particular information services, such as news, publishing, education, healthcare, medicine and medical device, and must also comply with relevant laws and regulations and obtain the approval from competent governmental authorities.

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Mobile Internet Applications Information Services

In June 2016, the CAC promulgated the APP Provisions, which became effective in August 2016. Under the APP Provisions, mobile application providers and application store service providers are prohibited from engaging in any activity that may endanger national security, disturb the social order, or infringe the legal rights of third parties, and may not produce, copy, issue or disseminate through internet mobile applications any content prohibited by laws and regulations. The APP Provisions also require application providers to procure relevant approval to provide services through such applications and require application store service providers to register with local branches of the CAC within 30 days after they start providing application store services.

Regulations Relating to Pharmaceutical Operation and Service

Pharmaceutical Operation

In September 1984, the SCNPC promulgated the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Drug Administration Law, which was amended in 2001, 2013 and 2015 respectively to regulate all entities or individuals engaging in research, manufacture, operation, use, supervision and management of drugs within the PRC. According to the Drug Administration Law, no pharmaceutical operation, including pharmaceutical wholesale and pharmaceutical retail business, is permitted without obtaining the Pharmaceutical Operation License. The Implementation Rules for the Drug Administration Law, was promulgated by the State Council in August 2002 and amended in 2016 and 2019, which emphasized the detailed implementation rules of drugs administration. The CFDA promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Pharmaceutical Operation License in February 2004 as amended in 2017, which stipulate the procedures for applying the Pharmaceutical Operation License and the requirements and qualifications for pharmaceutical wholesalers or pharmaceutical retailers with respect to their management system, personnel, facilities and etc. The valid term of the Pharmaceutical Operation License is five years and shall be renewed six months prior to its expiration date. Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and its branches and Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. have obtained the Pharmaceutical Operation License, respectively.

According to the Measures on Prescription Drugs and OTC Drugs Classification Management and the Interim Provisions on the Circulation of Prescription and OTC Drugs (Trial), which were both promulgated by the State Drug Administration, which was restructured and integrated into the CFDA, in 1999 and became effective in January 2000, drugs are divided into prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs, or OTC drugs. For prescription drugs, the dispensing, purchase and use can only be based on the prescription issued by the certified medical practitioner or certified medical assistant practitioner. In addition, the prescription drugs can only be advertised and promoted in professional medical magazines. OTC drugs, on the other hand, are further divided into Class A and Class B and they both can be purchased and used without a prescription and promoted in public upon approval by the relevant governmental authorities. The pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises distributing prescription drugs and/or OTC drugs, as well as pharmaceutical retail enterprises selling prescription drugs and/or Class A OTC drugs are required to obtain the Pharmaceutical Operation License.

According to the Administrative Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Circulation of Pharmaceuticals, promulgated by the CFDA in January 2007 and effective in May 2007, pharmaceutical manufacture and operation enterprises and medical institutions shall be responsible for the quality of pharmaceuticals they manufacture, provide or use. The operation of prescription drugs is highly regulated under these rules. Prescription drugs may not be sold by pharmaceutical retail enterprises without valid prescriptions and an enterprise in violation of such restriction will be instructed to rectify any violation, given a disciplinary warning, and/or imposed a fine of no more than RMB1,000. In addition, a pharmaceutical manufacture or operation enterprise shall not sell prescription drugs directly to the public by post or over internet, and the enterprise in violation of such restriction shall be instructed to rectify, given a disciplinary warning, and fined the lesser of (i) two times the value of the pharmaceuticals sold and (ii) RMB 30,000. Furthermore, the Administrative Standard of Pharmaceutical Operating Quality, promulgated by the CFDA in April 2000 and amended in 2012, 2015 and 2016, respectively, and the Administrative Measures for Identification of Pharmaceutical Operating Quality Administrative Standards, promulgated by the CFDA in April 2003, the pharmaceutical operation enterprise shall take effective quality control measures over the process of procurement, storage, transportation and sale of drugs in order to ensure their quality, and is required to obtain a GSP certificate, from the relevant governmental authorities. The GSP certificate is valid for five years and shall be renewed three months prior to its expiration date upon a re-examination by the competent governmental authorities. Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and its branches and Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd., each have obtained the GSP certificate.

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Medical Devices Operation

According to the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices, which was promulgated by the State Council in January 2000 and amended in 2014 and 2017, respectively, and the Supervision and Management Measures on Medical Devices Operation, which was promulgated by the CFDA in July 2014 and amended in 2017, business operations of medical devices are regulated based on the degree of risks involving the medical devices, which are divided into three categories. Operation of Class I medical devices does not require a license or record-filing, while operations of Class II medical devices and Class III medical devices are subject to record-filing and licensing requirements, respectively. An entity engaging in the operation of medical devices shall meet certain requirements with respect to its management system, personnel, facilities etc., and shall apply for approval to operate Class III medical devices and make record-filing with relevant governmental authority to operate Class II medical devices. The valid term of medical devices operation permit is five years. Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and its branches, and Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd., have obtained the record-filing certificates for the business operations of Class II medical devices and the business permits for the business operations of Class III medical devices, which are necessary to cover their current business.

Regulations Relating to Online Operation of Drugs and Medical Devices

Internet Drug Information Service

The Administrative Measures on Internet Drug Information Service, or Internet Drug Measures, was promulgated by the CFDA in July 2004 and amended in 2017, pursuant to which the internet drug information services is to provide drug (including medical device) information services to online users, which is divided into commercial internet drug information services and non-commercial internet drug information services. The website operator that provides drugs (including medical devices) information services must obtain an Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate from the competent counterpart of the CFDA. The valid term for an Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate is five years and may be renewed at least six months prior to its expiration date upon a re-examination by the relevant governmental authorities. Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and Wuhan Central China have each obtained the Internet Drug Information Service Qualification Certificate to provide commercial internet drug information services.

Furthermore, as requested by Internet Drug Measures, the information relating to drugs shall be accurate and scientific in nature, and its provision shall comply with the relevant laws and regulations. No product information of stupefacient, psychotropic drugs, medicinal toxic drugs, radiopharmaceutical, detoxification drugs and pharmaceutics made by medical institutes shall be distributed on the website. In addition, advertisements relating to drugs (including medical devices) shall be approved by the NMPA or its competent counterparts.

Internet Drug Transaction Services

The Interim Provisions on the Examination and Approval of Internet Drug Transaction Services, or Interim Portions of Internet Drug Transaction, were promulgated by the CFDA in September 2005 and became effective in December 2005, and regulate transaction of drugs (including medical devices and packing materials and containers that are in direct contact with drugs) over internet, including the provision of transaction services among pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmaceutical operation enterprises and medial institutes, the services provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises to other third parties via their own websites and services provided by pharmaceutical retail chain enterprises to individual consumers. According to Interim Portions of Internet Drug Transaction enterprises engaging in providing drug transaction services over the internet must obtain an Internet Drug Transaction Qualification Certificate. Such certificates have a term of five years and have three types: A certificate, B certificate and C certificate. They are only issued to three kinds of enterprises: (i) enterprises that provide drug transaction services to pharmaceutical manufactures, pharmaceutical operation enterprises and medical institutions, but do not participate in pharmaceutical manufacture and operation and do not own, have no property relationship or other economic interest with the administrative organizations, medical institutions or pharmaceutical manufacture and operation enterprises; (ii) pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises that deal with other third-party enterprises via their own websites; (iii) the pharmaceutical retail chain enterprises that provide OTC drug transaction services for individual consumers via the internet. Wuhan Central China, Yihao Pharmacy and Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain have obtained the Internet Drug Transaction Qualification Certificates for A certificate, B certificate and C certificate, respectively.

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However, according to the Decision on the Cancellation of the Third Batch of Items Subject to Administrative Permission by Local Governments Designated by the Central Government, promulgated by the State Council in January 2017, except for third-party platforms, all approval of internet drug transaction service enterprises implemented by counterparts of CFDA at the provincial level are cancelled. In April 2017, the General Office of the CFDA promulgated a notice on implementing the above mentioned decision, pursuant to which pharmaceutical manufacture enterprises and pharmaceutical wholesale enterprises may carry out internet drug (including medical device) transactions with other enterprises through their own websites, but shall not provide internet drug (including medical device) transaction services to individual consumers. In addition, pharmaceutical retail chain enterprises may provide internet drug (including medical device) transaction services to individual consumers, but they shall not exceed the business scope permitted by license and filings and display information of prescription drugs on related transaction webpages, or sell prescription drugs or the OTC drugs under special administrative requirements; as indicated in such decision, the CFDA will promulgate subsequently the relevant rules on supervision of internet drug (including medical device) transaction.

Furthermore, according to the Decision on the Cancellation of Various Items Subject to Administrative Permission promulgated by the State Council in September 2017, the enterprises engaging in internet drug transaction service as a third-party platform shall no longer be subject to the examination and approval of the CFDA before carrying out such business. In November 2017 the General Office of the CFDA promulgated a Notice on Strengthening the Administration and Supervision of Internet Drug and Medical Devices Transaction, which specify the approval to conduct internet drug transaction service as the third-party platform is cancelled, but enterprises carrying out internet drug (including medical) transaction services shall establish a comprehensive supervision system in general and also request local counterparts of CFDA to implement day-to-day supervision and examination with respect to qualification access examination, products inspection, storage of transaction data and legal liabilities etc.

Online Sales of Drugs and Medical Device

Under PRC laws and regulations, the drugs and medical devices are allowed to be sold online in general except the prescription drugs that cannot be sold by pharmaceutical manufacture and operating enterprise or medical institution directly to the public by post or via internet.

In November 2017, the CFDA released a draft of the Administrative Measures for Supervision and Regulation of Online Drug Sales for public consultation, which aims to regulate online drug sales in the PRC. In February 2018, the CFDA also released a draft for online drug sales for public consultation. Both drafts stipulate that sellers and online platforms engaging in this business shall obtain relevant certificates and have sufficient medical staff and operating systems to guarantee the safety and quality of the drugs. Furthermore, these entities shall make record-filing with the counterparts of CFDA at provisional level. In particular, the websites for sale of drugs to individuals are not allowed to display prescription drugs information via the internet. As of the date of this annual report, both drafts have not come into effect and there are substantial uncertainties with respect to their enactment timetable and final provisions.

In December 2017, the CFDA promulgated the Administration and Supervision Measures of Online Sales of Medical Devices, or the Online Medical Devices Sales Measures, which became effective in March 2018. According to the Online Medical Devices Sales Measures, enterprises engaged in online sales of medical devices must be medical device manufacture and operation enterprises with medical devices production licenses or operation licenses or being filed for record in accordance with laws, unless such licenses or record-filing is not required by laws and regulations, and the third-party platform for provision of online medical devices transaction services shall obtain an Internet Drug Information Services Qualification License. Either enterprises for online sales of medical devices or enterprises for provision of medical devices online transaction services shall take technical measures to ensure the data and materials of medical devices online sales are authentic, completed and retrospective, for example the records of sale information of medical devices shall be kept for two years after the valid period of the medical devices, and for no less than five years in case of no valid period, or be kept permanently in case of implanted medical devices.

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Regulations Relating to Online Trading

In January 2014, the SAIC promulgated the Administrative Measures for Online Trading, or Online Trading Measures, which became effective in March 2014, to regulate all operating activities for products sale and services provision via the internet (including mobile internet). It stipulates the obligations of online products operators and services providers and certain special requirements applicable to third-party platform operators. The MOFCOM promulgated the Provisions on the Procedures for Formulating Transaction Rules of Third Party Online Retail Platforms (Trial) in December 2014, which became effective in April 2015, to guide and regulate the formulation, revision and enforcement of transaction rules by online retail third-party platforms operators. These measures impose more stringent requirements and obligations on third-party platform operators. For example, third-party platform operators are obligated to make public and file their transaction rules with MOFCOM or their respective provincial counterparts, examine and register the legal status of each third-party merchant selling products or services on their platforms and display on a prominent location on a merchant’s webpage the information stated in the merchant’s business license or a link to its business license. Where third-party platform operators also act as online distributors, these third-party platform operators must make a clear distinction between their online direct sales and sales of third-party merchant products on their third-party platforms. Furthermore, in August 2018, the SCNPC promulgated the E-Commerce Law, which took effect on January 1, 2019 and aims to regulate the e-commerce activities conducted within the territory of the PRC. According to the E-Commerce Law, e-commerce operators shall comply with the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and good faith, abide by laws, observe business ethics, equally participate in market competition. It further strengthened the performing obligations of e-commerce operators regarding to the protection of consumers’ rights and interests, environmental protection, intellectual property protection, and the protection of cyberspace safety and personal information, and also emphasized the commitment by e-commerce operators over the quality of products and services.

After the issuance of Online Trading Measures, the SAIC has issued a number of guidelines and implementing rules aimed at adding greater specificity to these regulations and continues to consider and issue guidelines and implementing rules in this industry. For example, three PRC governmental authorities (the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, or the MOF, General Administration of Customs, or the GAC, and the SAT) issued the New Cross-Border E-commerce Retail Imports Tax Notice in March 2016, which became effective in April 8, 2016 and was amended in November 2018, to regulate cross-border e-commerce trading and introduced the concept of the cross-border e-commerce retail importation goods inventory, or the Cross-Border E-Commerce Goods Inventory, which has been issued and updated by the three authorities together with other relevant authorities from time to time. Two batches of the Cross-Border E-Commerce Goods Inventory have been issued in April 2016, which have been replaced by the Cross-Border E-Commerce Goods Inventory (2018 Edition) issued in November 2018  and the Notice of Relevant Matters on Implementation of New Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Importation Supervision and Administration Requirements issued by the GAC in May 2016 to further implement the rules. According to the Notice of Relevant Work on improving Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Importation Supervision and Administration issued in November 2018, retail imported goods on cross-border e-commerce platforms will be temporarily treated as personal items which are not subject to stricter regulations and higher tax rates applicable to normal imported goods in 37 cross-border e-commerce trial areas.

Regulations Relating to the Medical Industry

Medical Institution

The Administrative Regulations on Medical Institutions was promulgated by the State Council in February 1994 and amended in 2016 to regulate all medical institutions, such as hospitals, health centers, sanatoriums, out-patient departments, clinics and health posts (rooms) as well as first-aid stations. The establishment of medical institutions by the entity or individual shall be subject to examination and approval of the health administrative authorities at the county level or above and medical institutions must obtain the approval certificate to establish the medical institution. Furthermore, the medical institution shall also register with competent health administrative authorities for practice and operation, and obtain the License for Practicing of Medical Institutions after examination by competent health administrative authorities. Southwest Internet Hospital has obtained a License for Practicing of Medical Institutions, and Guangdong Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd. Dongshan Branch Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic and Guangdong Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd. Yuexiu Branch Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic both have obtained Licenses for Practicing of Medical Institution only for traditional Chinese medicine and internal medicine.

Internet Medical Services

On May 1, 2009, the Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China, which was restructured and integrated into the NHFPC and subsequently to the NHC, promulgated the Administrative Measures on Internet Medical and Healthcare Information Services to regulate the business relating to providing online medical and healthcare information; but such measures were abolished in January 2016.

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In August 2014, the NHFPC issued an opinion to promote medical institution’s remote diagnosis and treatment services. Under this opinion, the medical institutions shall possess qualified personnel, technology, facilities to carry out remote diagnosis and treatment services, and shall also satisfy certain requirements. Non-medical institutions are prohibited from providing remote diagnosis and treatment services.

In July 2015, the State Council issued a guiding opinion to promote activities of the concept of “Internet +”, including popularizing the model of online medical services to develop the medical services via internet and support medical information sharing service platform. In December 2016, the State Council promulgated the 13th Five-Year sanitation and health planning, which suggests to comprehensively implement “Internet +” Healthcare service, and encourages the establishment of regional remote medical service platform and promotes the vertical flow of high quality medical resources.

According to an official reply to a proposal put forward in the fourth meeting of the twelfth committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in June 2016 and released in November 2016 on the website of NHFPC, it indicates that no online diagnosis and treatment shall be allowed except for remote diagnosis and treatment; but it allows online health consultation provided by practitioners or other personnel via network platform operated by internet companies and medical consultation made by practitioners without provision of written diagnosis and prescription and other implementation of doctors’ advice. As indicated in another official reply to a recommendation made in the fifth meeting of China’s twelfth National People’s Congress issued in December 2017 by the NHFPC, the administration measures for internet diagnosis and treatment are under research and formulation, which aims to specify the business scope of internet diagnosis and treatment, information security, patient privacy protection, supervision and legal liabilities.

In April, 2018, the General Office of State Council promulgated the opinions concerning development of “internet + healthcare” that specifies that both medical institutions and qualified enterprises could set up and operate “internet hospital” to offer approved services and the prescription drugs for common and chronic disease prescribed by pharmacist could be delivered by third parties designated by pharmaceutical operating entities, which would allow the pharmaceutical enterprise to sell the prescription drugs to individual by mail. In July 2018, the NHC and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or the SATCM, jointly promulgated the Notice of Carrying Out In-depth Activities for the Benefit of the People regarding “Internet + Healthcare”, which further specified that after e-prescriptions have been approved by pharmacists, pharmaceutical enterprises can designate qualified third party couriers to deliver the prescription drugs.

In July 2018, the NHC and the SATCM issued the Administrative Measures for Online Diagnosis and Treatment (Trial), the Administrative Measures for Internet Hospitals (Trial), or the Internet Hospital Administrative Measures and the Administrative Standards for Remote Diagnosis (Trial). According to these measures and standards, internet hospitals including the internet hospitals used as second name of a physical medical institution and the internet hospitals established independently while relying on a physical medical institution, and are subject to access restrictions. The application for establishment of internet hospitals shall be submitted to the registration department of the physical medical institution. The Internet Hospital Administrative Measures also provide the basic standards for internet hospitals, including the requirements for diagnosis subjects, department settings, staffs, buildings and facilities, rules and regulations.

Medical Practitioners

In June 1998, the SCNPC promulgated the Law on Licensed Medical Practitioners of the People’s Republic of China, or the Licensed Medical Practitioners Law, which became effective in May 1999 and was amended in 2009. According to the Licensed Medical Practitioners Law, registered doctors can work in medical or healthcare institutions according to the registered place, category and scope of business to engage in the relevant services of medical treatment, prevention or healthcare. Person who fails to register as a doctor and obtain the practicing certificate shall not practice medicine. In February 2017, the NHFPC promulgated the Administrative Measures for the Registration of Medical Practitioners, or the Medical Practitioners Registration Measures, which became effective in April 2017 and stipulate that medical practitioners shall obtain the Practice License for Medical Practitioners to practice upon registration.

In November 2014, the NHFPC, the NDRC, the MOHRSS, the SATCM and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly promulgated Several Opinions on Promoting and Standardizing Multi-Institution Practice of Medical Practitioners. According to these opinions, the clinical, dental and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are allowed to practice in multiple places. The medical practitioners who meet certain requirements and conditions shall register with competent health administrative authorities and obtain the consent from the medical institution where he or she first practices before practicing in other places. Moreover, under the Medical Practitioners Registration Measures, a medical practitioner practicing in multiple institutions at the same place of practice shall determine one institution as his or her primary practicing institution, and apply for registration to the competent administrative authorities of health and family planning that approve the practice at such institution, and for other institutions where a medical practitioner intends to practice, he or she should apply for the record at the relevant administrative authorities of health and family planning that approve the practice of such institutions, which names should be indicated in the record. In addition, a medical practitioner intends to add the practicing institution beyond the place of practice, he or she should apply for registering such institution to the relevant administrative authorities of health and family planning authority that approve the practice of such institutions.

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According to the Measures for the Administration of Prescriptions issued by the NHFPC in February 2007, a registered medical practitioner shall obtain the corresponding prescription right at the registered practice place and the registered medical practitioner shall issue prescriptions according to the relevant requirements. The prescriptions issued by a registered assistant medical practitioner shall not become effective until it is signed by a registered medical practitioner.

Regulations Relating to Food Business

General Administration on Food Operation

The Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, which was effective as from June 2009 and amended by the SCNPC in April 2015 and December 2018 and became effective in December 2018, and the Implementation Regulations of the Food Safety Law of the PRC, which took effect as from July 2009 and were amended by the State Council in 2016, regulate food safety and set up a system of the supervision, monitoring and evaluation of food safety and adopt food safety standards. The State Council implements a licensing system for the food production and transaction. To engage in food production, sale or catering services, the business operator shall obtain a license in accordance with the laws. Furthermore, the State Council implements strict supervision and administration for special categories of foods such as healthcare food, special formula foods for medical purposes and infant formula.

The Administrative Measures for Food Business Licensing, promulgated by the CFDA in August 2015 and amended in 2017 regulates the food business licensing activities, strengthens the supervision and management of food business and ensures food safety. Food business operators shall obtain one Food Business License for one business venue where they engage in food business activities. The valid term of a food business license is five years. Yao Fang, Yihao Pharmacy, Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain and its branches and Chongqing Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. have obtained the Food Business Licenses.

Regulations Relating to Product Quality and Consumers Protection

According to the Product Quality Law of the People’s Republic of China, which was effective as from September 1993 and amended by the SCNPC in 2000, 2009 and 2018, respectively, products for sale must satisfy relevant safety standards and sellers shall adopt measures to maintain the quality of products for sale. Sellers may not sell mix impurities or imitations into products, or substitute fake products for genuine ones, or substitute defective products for good ones or substitute substandard products for standard ones. For sellers, any violation of state or industrial standards for health and safety or other requirements may result in civil liabilities and administrative penalties, such as compensation for damages, fines, confiscation of products illegally sold and the proceeds from such sales and even revoking business license; in addition, severe violations may subject the responsible individual or enterprise to criminal liabilities.

According to the Consumers Rights and Interests Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, or Consumers Rights and Interests Protection Law, which became effective in January 1994 and was amended by the SCNPC in 2009 and 2013 respectively, business operators should guarantee that the products and services they provide satisfy the requirements for personal or property safety, and provide consumers with authentic information about the quality, function, usage and term of validity of the products or services. The consumers whose interests have been damaged due to the products or services that they purchase or accept on the internet trading platforms may claim damages to sellers or service providers. Where the operators of the online trading platforms are unable to provide the real names, addresses and valid contact details of the sellers or service providers, the consumers may also claim damages to the providers of the online trading platforms. Operators of online trading platforms that clearly knew or should have known that sellers or service providers use their platforms to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers but fail to take necessary measures must bear joint and several liabilities with the sellers or service providers. Moreover, if business operators deceive consumers or knowingly sell substandard or defective products, they should not only compensate consumers for their losses, but also pay additional damages equal to three times the price of the goods or services.

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In January 2017, the SAIC issued the Interim Measures for No Reason Return of Online Purchased Products within Seven Days, which became effective in March 2017, further clarifying the scope of consumers’ rights to make returns without a reason, including exceptions, return procedures and online trading platform operators’ responsibility to formulate seven-day no-reason return rules and related consumer protection systems, and supervise the merchants for compliance with these rules.

Regulations Relating to Online Advertising

Foreign Investment on Advertising

The principal regulation governing foreign-invested advertising agencies in China are the Administrative Measures for Foreign Invested Advertising Enterprise, which was abolished due to the decision on Repealing the Administrative Measures for Foreign Invested Advertising Enterprise issued by SAIC in June 2015. According to the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue (2015 Revision), which came into effect in April 2015, foreign investors are allowed to own 100% of an advertising agency in China subject to certain qualification requirements. However, foreign investment in advertising agencies that provide online advertising services is still subject to restrictions of foreign investment in the value-added telecommunications business.

Administration on Internet Advertisement

In April 2015, the SCNPC enacted the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Advertising Law, which became effective in September 2015 and was amended in October 2018. The Advertising Law regulates commercial advertising activities in the PRC and sets out the obligations of advertisers, advertising operators, advertising publishers and advertising spokespeople, and prohibits any advertisement from containing any obscenity, pornography, gambling, superstition, terrorism or violence-related content. Any advertiser in violation of such requirements to advertisement content will be ordered to cease publishing such advertisements and imposed a fine ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000; in severe circumstances, the business license of such advertiser may be revoked, and the relevant authorities may revoke the approval document for advertisement examination and refuse to accept applications submitted by such advertiser for one year. In addition, any advertising operator or advertising publisher in violation of such requirements will be imposed a fine ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000, and the advertisement fee received will be confiscated; in severe circumstances, the business license of such advertising operator or advertising publisher may be revoked.

Except that certain prescription drugs are prohibited from advertising, the advertisement of prescription drugs can be only made on designated medical or pharmaceutical journals. Any display of prescription drugs advertisements outside the designated media channels may result in violations of such restrictions by the advertising operator, confiscation of advertising fees and a fine ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000, or, in severe circumstances, revocation of business license. In addition, any advertisement for medical treatment, pharmaceutical or medical devices must not contain any assertion or guarantee on the function and safety, or any statement on curative rate or effectiveness of such medical treatment, pharmaceutical or medical devices, and any violation of such requirements will result in a fine equivalent to an amount up to three times the amount of the advertising fees, or a fine ranging from RMB100,000 to RMB200,000 if the advertising fees cannot be calculated or are significantly low; and in severe circumstances, a fine equivalent to the amount up to five times the amount of the advertising fees will be imposed, or a fine ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000 if the advertising fees cannot be calculated or are significantly low. Moreover, the Advertising Law also provides that the internet information service providers must not publish advertisements related to medical treatments, drugs, medical devices or health foods in the disguised form of providing healthcare and health maintenance knowledge.

The Interim Measures for Administration of Internet Advertising, or the Internet Advertising Measures regulating the internet-based advertising activities, were adopted by the SAIC in July 2016 and became effective in September 2016. According to the Internet Advertising Measures, internet advertisers are responsible for the authenticity of the advertisements content and all online advertisements must be marked “Advertisement” so that viewers can easily identify them as such.

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Pursuant to the Measures for Drug Advertisements Examination and the Measures for Medical Device Advertisement Examination which became effective in May 2007 and May 2009, and were both amended in December 2018, all advertisement containing drug names, applicable symptom to be cured by such drugs (major functions) or other drug-related content, the medical device names and the applicable scope, performance, structure and composition, function and other content relevant to medical device that are published through various media or in various forms shall be examined according to such measures, except for the advertisement merely for OTC drugs’ and medical devices’ name and publication of prescription drugs’ name at designated professional pharmaceutical magazine. The applicants for drug and medical device advertisement license numbers must be pharmaceutical or medical device manufacture enterprises or pharmaceutical or medical device operation enterprises that have obtained the consent from pharmaceutical or medical device manufacture enterprise. The valid period of drug and medical device advertisement license numbers shall be one year and the content of approved advertisement may not be altered without prior approval, otherwise a new license number shall be reapplied for the revised content of drug and medical device advertisement.

Regulations relating to Internet Information Security and Privacy Protection

PRC government authorities have enacted laws and regulations with respect to internet information security and protection of personal information from any abuse or unauthorized disclosure. Internet information in China is regulated and restricted from a national security standpoint.

In June 2017, the Cyber Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Cyber Security Law, promulgated by SCNPC took effect, which is formulated to maintain the network security, safeguard the cyberspace sovereignty, national security and public interests, protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and requires that a network operator, which includes, among others, internet information services providers, take technical measures and other necessary measures to safeguard the safe and stable operation of the networks, effectively respond to the network security incidents, prevent illegal and criminal activities, and maintain the integrity, confidentiality and availability of network data. The Cyber Security Law reaffirms the basic principles and requirements set forth in other existing laws and regulations on personal information protections and strengthens the obligations and requirements of internet service providers, which include but are not limited to: (i) keeping all user information collected strictly confidential and setting up a comprehensive user information protection system; (ii) abiding by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity in the collection and use of user information and disclosure of the rules, purposes, methods and scopes of collection and use of user information; and (iii) protecting users’ personal information from being leaked, tampered with, destroyed or provided to third parties. Any violation of the provisions and requirements under the Cyber Security Law and other related regulations and rules may result in administrative liabilities such as warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of licenses, suspension of business, and shutting down of websites, or, in severe cases, criminal liabilities.

In July 2013, the MIIT issued the Provisions on Protecting Personal Information of Telecommunication and Internet Users to further define the personal information of user to include user name, birthday, identification number, address, phone number, account, passcode, and others that may be used to identify the user solely in addition to other information such as location and service time of users. Furthermore, according to the interpretations issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in May 2017, personal information means various information recorded electronically or through other manners, which may be used to identify individuals or activities of individuals, including but not limited to the name, identification number, contact information, address, user account and passcode, property ownership and location tracking.

In November 2015, the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law issued by the SCNPC became effective, pursuant to which, any internet service provider that fails to comply with obligations related to internet information security administration as required by applicable laws and refuses to rectify upon order is subject to criminal penalty for (i) any large-scale dissemination of illegal information; (ii) any severe consequences due to the leakage of the user information; (iii) any serious loss of criminal evidence; or (iv) other severe circumstances. Furthermore, any individual or entity that (i) sells or distributes personal information in a manner which violates relevant regulations, or (ii) steals or illegally obtain any personal information is subject to criminal penalty in severe circumstances.

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Regulations Relating to Intellectual Property

Copyright

China has adopted comprehensive legislation governing intellectual property rights, including trademarks and copyrights. China is a signatory to the primary international conventions on intellectual property rights and has been a member of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights since its accession to the WTO in December 2001.

On In September 1990, the SCNPC promulgated the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China, effective in June 1991 and amended in 2001 and 2010 respectively. The amended Copyright Law extends copyright protection to internet activities, products disseminated over the internet and software products. In addition, there is a voluntary registration system administered by the Copyright Protection Centre of China.

In order to further implement the Computer Software Protection Regulations, promulgated by the State Council in December 2001 and amended in 2011 and 2013 respectively, the National Copyright Administration issued Computer Software Copyright Registration Procedures in February 2002, which specify detailed procedures and requirements with respect to the registration of software copyrights.

Trademark

According to the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated by the SCNPC in August 1982, and amended in 1993, 2001 and 2013 respectively, the Trademark Office of the SAIC is responsible for the registration and administration of trademarks in China. The SAIC under the State Council has established a Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for resolving trademark disputes. Registered trademarks are valid for ten years from the date the registration is approved. A registrant may apply to renew a registration within twelve months before the expiration date of the registration. If the registrant fails to apply in a timely manner, a grace period of six additional months may be granted. If the registrant fails to apply before the grace period expires, the registered trademark shall be deregistered. Renewed registrations are valid for ten years. In April 2014, the State Council issued the revised Implementation of the Trademark Law, which specified the requirements of applying for trademark registration and review.

Patent

According to the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China promulgated by the SCNPC in 1984 and amended in 1992, 2000 and 2008, respectively, a patentable invention or a utility model must meet three criteria: novelty, inventiveness and practicability. A patent is valid for a twenty-year term for an invention and a ten-year term for a utility model or design, starting from the application date.

Domain Names

In May 2012, the China Internet Network Information Center issued the Implementing Rules for Domain Name Registration setting forth the detailed rules for registration of domain names. In August 2017, the MIIT promulgated the Administrative Measures on Internet Domain Names, or the Domain Name Measures. The Domain Name Measures regulate the registration of domain names, such as the top-level domain name “.cn”.

Regulations Relating to Foreign Exchange and Dividend Distributions

The principal regulations governing foreign currency exchange in China are the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, which was promulgated by the State Council in January 1996, which became effective in April 1996 and was subsequently amended in 1997 and 2008 and the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement, Sale and Payment which was promulgated by the PBOC in June 1996 and became effective in July 1996. Under these regulations, the Renminbi for current account items is freely convertible, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for capital account items, such as direct investments, loans, and investments in securities outside of the PRC, unless the prior approval of the SAFE or its local counterpart is obtained. Foreign invested enterprises are permitted to convert their after-tax dividends into foreign exchange and to remit such foreign exchange out of their foreign exchange bank accounts in the PRC.

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The principal regulations governing distribution of dividends of foreign holding companies include the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, which was amended in 2000 and 2016 respectively, and the Administrative Rules under the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, which was amended in 2001 and 2014 respectively. Under these regulations, foreign investment enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with the PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, foreign investment enterprises in the PRC are required to allocate at least 10% of their accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds unless these reserves have reached 50% of the registered capital of the enterprises. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. Furthermore, under the EIT Law, which became effective in January 2008, the maximum tax rate for the withholding tax imposed on dividend payments from PRC foreign invested companies to their overseas investors that are not regarded as “resident” for tax purposes is 20%. The rate was reduced to 10% under the Implementing Regulations for the EIT Law issued by the State Council. However, a lower withholding tax rate might be applied if there is a tax treaty between China and the jurisdiction of the foreign holding companies, such as tax rate of 5% in the case of Hong Kong companies that holds at least 25% of the equity interests in the foreign-invested enterprise, and certain requirements specified by PRC tax authorities are satisfied.

Regulations Relating to Stock Incentive Plans

According to the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company, or the Share Incentive Rules, which was issued by the SAFE in February 2012 and other regulations, directors, supervisors, senior management and other employees participating in any share incentive plan of an overseas publicly-listed company who are PRC citizens or non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to certain exceptions, are required to register with the SAFE. All such participants need to authorize a qualified PRC agent, such as a PRC subsidiary of overseas publicly-listed company to register with the SAFE and handle foreign exchange matters such as opening accounts, transferring and settlement of the relevant proceeds. The Share Incentive Rules further require an offshore agent to be designated to handle matters in connection with the exercise of share options and sale of proceeds for the participants of share incentive plans.

Failure to complete the SAFE registrations for our employee incentive plans after our listing may subject them to fines and legal sanctions, and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us.

Regulations Relating to Employment

The Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Labor Law, which became effective in January 1995 and was amended in 2009 and 2018, and the Employment Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Employment Contract Law, effective in January 2008 and amended in 2012, require employers to provide written contracts to their employees, restrict the use of temporary workers and aim to give employees long-term job security. Employers must pay their employees wages equal to or above local minimum wage standards, establish labor safety and workplace sanitation systems, comply with state labor rules and standards and provide employees with appropriate training on workplace safety. In September 2008, the State Council promulgated the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Employment Contract Law which became effective immediately and interprets and supplements the provisions of the Employment Contract Law.

Under the Labor Contract Law, an employer shall limit the number of dispatched workers so that they do not exceed a certain percentage of its total number of workers. In January 2014, the MOHRSS issued the Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatching, which became effective in March 2014, pursuant to which it provides that the number of dispatched workers used by an employer shall not exceed 10% of the total number of its employees.

The PRC governmental authorities have passed a variety of laws and regulations regarding social insurance and housing funds from time to time, including, among others, the Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulation of Insurance for Labor Injury, the Regulations of Insurance for Unemployment, the Provisional Insurance Measures for Maternal Employees, the Interim Administrative Provisions on Registration of Social Insurance and the Administrative Regulations on the Housing Provident Fund. Pursuant to these laws and regulations, PRC companies must make contributions at specified levels for their employees to the relevant local social insurance and housing fund authorities. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations may result in various fines and legal sanctions and supplemental contributions to the local social insurance and housing fund regulatory authorities.

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C.            Organizational Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our principal subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and subsidiaries of consolidated affiliated entities as of the date of this annual report on Form 20-F:

(1)         The shareholders of Wuhan Central China Drug Trading Co., Ltd. include Yao Fang Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (70%) and Wuhan Zall Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (30%).

(2)         Guangdong Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. is our variable interest entity. The shareholders of Guangdong Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. include Mr. Yue Xuan (50%) and Ms. Jing Liu (50%). Mr. Yue Xuan is a family member of Dr. Gang Yu, our co-founder and co-chairman. Ms. Jing Liu is a family member of Mr. Junling Liu, our co-founder, co-chairman and chief executive officer. See ‘‘—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.’’

(3)         Guangdong Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd. is our variable interest entity and is wholly owned by Guangdong Yihao Pharmacy Co., Ltd. See ‘‘—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.’’

(4)         Shanghai Yaowang E-Commerce Co., Ltd. is our variable interest entity and is wholly owned by Guangdong Yihao Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd. See ‘‘—Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities.’’

Contractual Arrangements with Our Variable Interest Entities

PRC laws and regulations impose restrictions on foreign ownership and investment in internet-based businesses such as provision of online information and other value-added telecommunications services. We are a Cayman Islands company and our PRC subsidiary, Yao Fang, is considered a wholly foreign owned enterprise. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we have entered into a series of contractual arrangements, through Yao Fang, with our variable interest entities and the shareholders of our variable interest entities to obtain effective control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries.

We currently conduct our business through our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries based on these contractual arrangements, which allow us to:

·                  exercise effective control over our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries;

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·                  receive substantially all of the economic benefits from our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries; and

·                  have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interest in our variable interest entities when, and to the extent, permitted by PRC law.

As a result of these contractual arrangements, we have become the primary beneficiary of our variable interest entities under U.S. GAAP. We have consolidated the financial results of our variable interest entities and their subsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The following is a summary of the currently effective contractual arrangements in relation to our wholly owned subsidiary, Yao Fang, our variable interest entities and their shareholders.

Agreements that Allow Us to Receive Economic Benefits from Our Variable Interest Entities

Exclusive Support Services Agreements. Yao Fang entered into exclusive support services agreements with each of our variable interest entities. Pursuant to these agreements, Yao Fang has the exclusive right to provide our variable interest entities with support services, including training, financial support, equipment and asset support, labor support, intellectual property support and other services relating to the day-to-day operations of our variable interest entities. Without Yao Fang’s prior written consent, our variable interest entities shall not accept any services or similar services covered by these agreements from any third party. Our variable interest entities agree to pay service fees in an amount equivalent to the balance calculated as quarterly revenue minus expenses of our variable interest entities on a quarterly basis. Yao Fang owns the intellectual property rights arising out of the services performed under these agreements. Unless Yao Fang terminates these agreements or pursuant to other provisions of these agreements, these agreements will remain effective for ten years to be automatically extended for another ten years thereafter.

Agreements that Provide Us with Effective Control over Our Variable Interest Entities

Proxy Agreement. Pursuant to the proxy agreement, each shareholder of our variable interest entities irrevocably authorizes Yao Fang to act as its attorney-in-fact to exercise all of such shareholder’s voting and other rights associated with the shareholder’s equity interest in our variable interest entities, including but not limited to, the right to attend shareholder meetings on behalf of such shareholder, the right to vote, the right to manage the variable interest entities and the right to appoint legal representatives, directors and other management. The proxy agreement remains in force for the same period as the exclusive support services agreements.

Equity Pledge Agreement. Yao Fang has entered into an equity pledge agreement with each shareholder of our variable interest entities. Pursuant to these equity pledge agreements, each shareholder of our variable interest entities has pledged all of his, her or its respective equity interest in our variable interest entities to Yao Fang to guarantee the performance by such shareholder and our variable interest entities of their respective obligations under the exclusive support services agreements, the proxy agreement, the exclusive option agreements, and payment of all accounts payable to Yao Fang from time to time. If our variable interest entities or any of their shareholders breach any obligations under these agreements, Yao Fang, as pledgee, will be entitled to dispose of the pledged equity and have priority to be compensated by the proceeds from the disposal of the pledged equity. Each of the shareholders of variable interest entities agrees that he, she or it will not dispose of the pledged equity interests, create or allow any encumbrance on the pledged equity interests, or engage in any activities that may have adverse effects on the pledger’s asset conditions without the prior written consent of Yao Fang. These equity pledge agreements will remain effective until our variable interest entities and their shareholders discharge all their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements which shall include, among other things, full payment of services fees to the WFOE under the exclusive support services agreement, and granting exclusive option to the WFOE or any third party designated by the WFOE to purchase all or part of their respective equity interests at the lowest price permitted by law under the exclusive option agreements, and repay all accounts payable to the WFOE. The equity pledge for all of our variable interest entities has been registered with local PRC authorities.

Rights and Obligations Assignment Agreement. Shuhong Yuan’s 50% equity interests in Yihao Pharmacy were transferred to Jing Liu pursuant to a share transfer agreement dated July 13, 2017. As a result, Jing Liu has become a shareholder of Yihao Pharmacy, our variable interest entity. In connection with this transaction, Jing Liu and Yue Xuan, both shareholders of our variable interest entity, Yihao Pharmacy, and Shuhong Yuan, a party to the contractual arrangements with Yihao Pharmacy, entered into the rights and obligations assignment agreement with Yao Fang and Yihao Pharmacy on July 13, 2017. Pursuant to this agreement, Shuhong Yuan assigned all of her rights and obligations under the exclusive option agreement, proxy agreement and equity pledge agreement to Jing Liu. As such, Jing Liu is deemed to have entered into and is currently bound by the contractual arrangements with this variable interest entity.

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Agreements that Provide Us with the Option to Purchase the Equity Interest in Our Variable Interest Entities

Exclusive Option Agreements. Yao Fang has entered into exclusive option agreements with shareholders of our variable interest entities. Pursuant to these exclusive option agreements, the shareholders of our variable interest entities have irrevocably granted Yao Fang or any third party designated by Yao Fang an exclusive option to purchase all or part of their respective equity interests in our variable interest entities. The purchase price shall be the lowest price permitted by law. Without Yao Fang’s prior written consent, our variable interest entities shall not, among other things, supplement or amend their articles of association, increase or decrease the registered capital, sell, dispose of or set any encumbrance on their assets or revenue, enter into any material contracts, merge with any other persons or make any investments, or distribute dividends. The shareholders of our variable interest entities also jointly and severally undertake that they will not transfer, pledge or otherwise dispose of their respective equity interests in our variable interest entities to any third party or create or allow any encumbrance on their equity interests without Yao Fang’s prior written consent within the term of these agreements. These agreements will remain effective for the same period as the exclusive support services agreements.

In the opinion of Commerce & Finance Law Offices, our PRC counsel, the ownership structures of our variable interest entities, currently do not result in any violation of the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect; and the agreements under the contractual arrangements among Yao Fang, our variable interest entities and their shareholders, are governed by PRC laws or regulations, and are currently valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect, and do not result in any violation of the applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect.

However, our PRC counsel, Commerce & Finance Law Offices, advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules and there can be no assurance that the PRC government will ultimately take a view that is consistent with the opinion of our PRC counsel. In particular, in January 2015, the MOFCOM published the Draft FIL for public review and comments. Among other things, the Draft FIL, expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered an FIE. Under the Draft FIL, our variable interest entities would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors, and be subject to restrictions on foreign investments. However, the Draft FIL has not taken a position on what actions will be taken with respect to the existing companies controlled by foreign investors with the “variable interest entity” structure. In December 2018, the MOFCOM published the New Draft FIL. The concept of “actual control” was completely deleted from the New Draft FIL, which means variable interest entities that are ultimately controlled by foreign investors may not be subject to more strictly restriction in a short term. However, the possibility that such entities will be deemed as foreign-invested enterprise and subject to relevant restrictions in the future shall not be excluded. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to the above opinion of our PRC counsel. If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our online pharmaceutical and medical business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in value-added telecommunications services business, such as the internet content provision services, we could be subject to severe penalties, including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” and “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China.”

A.            Property, Plant and Equipment

Our corporate headquarters is located in Shanghai, China. As of December 31, 2018, we leased office space in Shanghai with an area of approximately 4,394 square meters. As of December 31, 2018, we also leased office space in Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, Chengdu and Anshun with a total area of approximately 2,493 square meters. In addition, we leased properties in various locations in China for operations of Yi Hao Pharmacies, with a total area of approximately 2,288 square meters as of December 31, 2018. With respect to our fulfillment centers, we leased these facilities with a total area of approximately 36,197 square meters in Kunshan, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing as of December 31, 2018. We lease our premises from unrelated third parties under operating lease agreements. We believe that our existing facilities are generally adequate to meet our current needs, but we expect to seek additional space as needed to accommodate future growth, especially as we expand our fulfillment network and establish more fulfillment centers.

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Item 4A.        Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 5.           Operating and Financial Review and Prospects

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon, and should be read in conjunction with, our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this annual report on Form 20-F. This report contains forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Information.” In evaluating our business, you should carefully consider the information provided under the caption “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” in this annual report on Form 20-F. We caution you that our businesses and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties.

A.            Operating Results

Overview

Today, we provide hundreds of millions of consumers with better access to pharmaceutical products and medical services, directly through our online retail pharmacy and indirectly through our offline pharmacy network. According to Frost & Sullivan, 1 Drugstore has been the largest direct sales online pharmacy in China since 2016 in terms of GMV. In 2016, we commenced our online medical services through our internet hospital, 1 Clinic (1诊), to provide consumers with cost-effective and convenient online consultation and electronic prescription services.

We are building our core competencies in the areas of smart supply chain, cloud-based solutions, big data and medical expertise, and are reshaping the pharmaceutical value chain in China using our New Retail platform. Not only do we serve consumers directly through our online retail pharmacy, we also enabled more than 150,000 offline pharmacies to better serve their consumers as of December 31, 2018. Our online wholesale pharmacy, 1 Drug Mall (1药城), serves as a one-stop shop for pharmacies to source a vast selection of  pharmaceutical products. This network of pharmacies represents the largest virtual pharmacy network in the world in terms of the total number of pharmacy stores, as of May 18, 2018, according to Frost & Sullivan.

In 2016, we began the transformation from a pure B2C business to a New Retail platform, integrating our online retail pharmacy and offline pharmacy network by leveraging our smart supply chain and cloud-based solutions. This model allows us to collect and analyze data from a large number of transactions, which we use to continuously increase the efficiency of our smart supply chain, and the intelligence of our cloud-based solutions.

We currently derive our revenues primarily from selling and distributing pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products. We also generate revenues from service modules such as marketplace vendor commissions; brand promotion, data and other marketing services for pharmaceutical companies and others.

We successfully implemented our business transformation and our revenue reached RMB959.5 million in 2017 and RMB1,786.0 million (US$259.8 million) in 2018, of which product revenues from the B2B segment reached RMB86.9 million and RMB922.8 million (US$134.2 million), respectively. Our net loss margin improved from 41.6% in 2016 to 26.0% in 2017 and further to 21.4% in 2018.

Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

Our results of operations are affected by general factors driving China’s general health and wellness industry, especially pharmaceutical retail and wholesale distribution and internet healthcare industries in China.

Our business expansion and revenue growth have been and will continue to be affected by the development of the general health and wellness industry in China, which is in turn driven by increasing disposable income and healthcare spending, rising awareness of health, an aging population, increasing life expectancy, increasing penetration of mobile internet, favorable government policies and increasing coverage of medical insurance. Unfavorable changes in any of these general industry conditions could negatively affect demand for our products and services and negatively and materially affect our results of operations.

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We are affected by government policies and regulations that address all aspects of our operations, including qualifications and licensing requirements for online and offline sales and distribution of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products, online healthcare services and online hospitals, among other things. See also ‘‘Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We are subject to extensive and evolving regulatory requirements, non-compliance with which, or changes in which, may materially and adversely affect our business and prospects.’’ We have benefitted from certain recent favorable regulatory and policy changes in China, especially various policy initiatives that have promoted the distribution of pharmaceutical products. We expect that the implementation of these measures relating to the distribution of pharmaceutical products will also affect market competition and drive industry consolidation.

While our business is influenced by general factors driving the general health and wellness market in China, we believe our results of operations are more directly affected by company-specific factors, including the following major factors.

Our Ability to Attract and Retain Consumers and Pharmacies

Our net revenues are dependent on our ability to attract and retain our consumers and pharmacies.

·                  Consumers. Historically, our revenue growth was primarily driven by the sale of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products through our online retail pharmacy to consumers. The average revenue per consumer grew from RMB672.6 in 2016 to RMB866.9 in 2017 and to RMB1,102 (US$160.3) in 2018. Steady and continued growth of our consumer base and their stickiness to our platform allows us to maintain a solid foundation for our business to continue to expand.

·                  Pharmacies. Since we launched our online wholesale pharmacy, 1 Drug Mall, in May 2017, we have significantly increased the scale of our B2B business through the sale of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies. As of December 31, 2018, we have served more than 150,000 pharmacies, compared to over 48,000 pharmacies as of December 31, 2017. We have also diversified the types of pharmacy customers we serve and have expanded our reach not only to independent pharmacies and pharmacy chains, but also to in-house pharmacies within clinics and private hospitals. We have thus far accumulated considerable offline pharmacy resources, which contributed to the increase of product revenues from the B2B segment to RMB922.8 million (US$134.2 million) in 2018. We expect to further expand our offline pharmacy market and to develop this revenue stream. Product revenues from the B2B segment contributed 9.0% and 51.6% to our total net revenues in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

We rely on a diverse array of online marketing channels to attract consumers, including using social media such as WeChat and Weibo and paid placement on major online search engines in China. With respect to growing our pharmacy customers, we rely on the effective operation of our on-the-ground sales force to promote our products and services. Our ability to continue to reach more consumers and pharmacies will affect the growth of our business and our net revenues.

Our Ability to Create Value for Participants in the Healthcare Ecosystem and Increase Monetization

We are a pioneer in developing and applying technologies to create an integrated online and offline platform in the healthcare ecosystem in China. Our results of operations depend on our ability to create value for various participants in the healthcare ecosystem and increase monetization for these participants. Consumers and pharmacies are drawn to our platform because we offer a wide selection of competitively priced pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products, as well as efficient and comprehensive services. In addition, we offer to suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals and other participants in the ecosystem our innovative cloud-based solutions, such as data service, CSO, smart supply chain services and other value-added services. Our success depends on our ability to continuously offer attractive products and services, therefore increasing user stickiness and attracting more participants to our close-loop online and offline platform. We have also implemented various initiatives and invested significantly to ramp up our cloud-based solutions and improve our smart supply chain services. As we further enhance our technologies and IT infrastructure, we aim to create more value for these participants, increasing their engagement and connection and deepening our penetration in the healthcare ecosystem, which we anticipate will create additional monetization venues for us to drive our revenue growth.

Our Ability to Manage Our Mix of Product and Service Offerings

Our results of operations are also affected by the mix of products and services we offer. We currently derive our revenues primarily from the sale and distribution of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products to our pharmacy customers and consumers. We also earn commissions and service fees from marketplace sellers on our online marketplace. Different products and services have different cost structures. For example, the various services we provide generally have higher fixed costs. The revenue contributions from our online direct sales model, our online marketplace model and our services have a major influence on our profitability. We intend to better manage the mix of our product and service offerings in order to improve our profitability.

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Our Ability to Control Operating Costs and Expenses and Improve Efficiency

Our cost of products sold represents primarily the purchase price of products and inbound shipping charges if any, as well as inventory write-downs. In 2018, we sourced our products from over 500 suppliers, including pharmaceutical companies and distributors. As our business further grows in scale, we expect to obtain more favorable terms from suppliers, including pricing terms, credit period and volume-based rebates. In addition, we aim to create value for our suppliers, especially pharmaceutical companies, by providing an effective and transparent channel for selling large volumes of their products online and by offering them valuable data insights on market demand, customer preferences and supply chain information. We believe this value proposition will also help us deepen our relationships with suppliers, obtain favorable terms and reduce our procurement costs. Our selling and marketing expenses are a significant contributor to our operating costs and expenses, and they primarily consist of payroll, bonus and employee benefits of sales and marketing staff, advertising costs, agency fees and costs for promotional materials. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, selling and marketing expenses amounted to 28.9%, 19.8% and 14.6% of our total net revenues, respectively. We expect our selling and marketing expenses to remain substantial in absolute terms as we implement new business initiatives, such as deploying additional sales personnel to promote our 1 Drug Mall and our value-added services to pharmacies. As our business grows, we anticipate that our technology and fulfillment expenses will increase in absolute terms in the foreseeable future in light of our anticipated expansion and investment plans.

In 2018, we were able to grow our customer base organically without increasing our marketing. Our procurement capabilities strengthened with the increase in the number of our customers. As a result, our cost of products sold declined in 2018 and is expected to further decrease in the future.

We continuously seek to streamline our operations and improve our supply chain and inventory management. Controlling costs and operating expenses to achieve optimal operating efficiency is important to our success. As our business grows in scale, we expect to have significant operating leverage and realize structural cost savings.

Key Components of Results of Operations

Net Revenues

The following table sets forth the components of our net revenues by amounts and percentages of our total net revenues for the periods presented:

Product revenues. We generate and report product revenues under our direct sales model from two reportable segments: the B2C segment and the B2B segment. Product revenues from our B2C segment are generated from the sale of pharmaceutical and other health and wellness products through 1 Drugstore and offline pharmacies to consumers. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, a substantial majority of our revenues were attributable to product revenues from the B2C segment. We also generate product revenues from the B2B segment through the sale of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies on 1 Drug Mall. We expect our product revenues, in particular, those from B2B segment, to grow significantly as we attract more pharmacies as customers. Our product revenue from the B2B business segment in 2018 reached RMB922.8 million (US$134.2 million), representing over a tenfold increase from 2017.

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Service revenues. Service revenues primarily consist of marketplace (MP) service fees we charge to marketplace sellers to which we provide access to 1 Drugstore where they are able to effectively sell their products. We charge marketplace sellers commission fees equal to an agreed percentage of the sales price of the product when a sale is completed and also charge marketplace sellers an annual non-refundable up-front fee for platform usage. We refer to these fees as MP service revenue. Since we launched our MP service, it has made substantial contribution to our service revenues. Our service revenues increased significantly by 52.4% from RMB10.3 million in 2017 to RMB15.7 million (US$2.3 million) in 2018, which was primarily attributable to an increase of RMB3.6 million (US$0.5 million) in MP service revenues. We also generate service revenues by providing other ancillary services, mainly online medical consultation services. We expect our service revenues, although not a material contribution to our net revenues currently or in the near future, to grow as we expand our online marketplace and increase the service coverage of our cloud-based solutions, such cloud prescription services and data services to more pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies.

In November 2017, we started to offer a membership program to consumers for a fixed quarterly or yearly service fee. Under this program, members can enjoy additional free shipping and certain price discounts by using coupons offered exclusively pursuant to such memberships. We do not expect membership fee will contribute a significant amount to our revenue in the future.

Operating costs and expenses

The following table sets forth the components of our operating costs and expenses by amounts and percentages of total operating costs and expenses for the periods presented:

Cost of products sold. Cost of products sold consists of the purchase price of products and inbound shipping charges, as well as inventory write-downs, less rebates earned from vendors in the form of credits that we can apply against trade amounts owed to these vendors pursuant to binding arrangements when we complete a specified cumulative level of purchases within a specified time period. Cost of products does not include other direct costs related to costs of product sales such as shipping and handling expense, payroll and employee benefits for logistic staff, logistic centers rental expenses and depreciation expenses. Therefore, our cost of products sold may not be comparable to that of other companies, which include such expenses in their costs of products sold. We expect our cost of products sold to grow in absolute terms as our business continues to grow.

Fulfillment expenses. Fulfillment expenses primarily consist of payroll, bonus and employee benefits for logistics staff, logistics centers rental expenses, shipping and handling expenses and packaging expenses. We expect our fulfillment expenses as a percentage of our total net revenues to decrease because larger B2B orders reduce our cost as a percentage as a result of the way pricing is undertaken by the logistics business. In addition, we have implemented more cost-saving initiatives and continue to expand our fulfillment network to leverage our scale.

Selling and marketing expenses. Selling and marketing expenses primarily consist of payroll, bonus and employee benefits for sales and marketing staff, advertising costs, agency fees and costs for promotional materials. We expect our selling and marketing expenses to remain substantial in absolute terms as we implement new business initiatives, such as deploying additional sales personnel to promote our 1 Drug Mall and our value-added services to pharmacies.

General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses primarily consist of payroll, bonus and employee benefit costs for corporate employees, legal, finance, rental expenses, and other corporate overhead costs. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute terms in the foreseeable future due to the anticipated growth of our business as well as accounting, insurance, investor relations and other public company costs, but to decrease as a percentage of our total net revenues as we leverage the scale of our business.

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Technology expenses. Technology expenses primarily consist of payroll, bonus and employee benefits for our technology and system department staffs and expenses incurred for the development and enhancement of our websites, technology platforms and applications. We expect our technology expenses to grow in absolute terms as we expand our technology team, enhance our big data analytics capabilities and develop new features and applications to better serve various participants in the healthcare ecosystem, but to decrease as a percentage of our total net revenues as we are able to leverage the scale of our business as we continue to grow.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the periods indicated. The period-to-period comparisons of results of operations should not be relied upon as indicative of future performance. This information should be read together with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report.