Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH) executives said the company delivered strong revenue and profit growth in fiscal year 2025, driven by expansion in its insurance business and broader adoption of AI across operations. Management also highlighted continued profitability, increased shareholder returns through dividends and repurchases, and product and technology updates spanning insurance, medical crowdfunding, and digital clinical trial services.
Full-year 2025 results and profitability streak
Founder, Chairman, and CEO Shen Peng said Waterdrop “executed firmly on our AI plus insurance strategy,” pointing to “significant top line and bottom line expansion.” For fiscal year 2025, the company reported revenue of CNY 3.98 billion, up 43.5% year over year, and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of CNY 570 million, up 64.8%. Shen added that Waterdrop met its guidance and has delivered GAAP profitability for 16 consecutive quarters.
Insurance segment growth and AI embedded “in every node”
Management described the insurance segment as the company’s core driver. Shen said the insurtech segment saw revenue surge 61.3% with an operating margin of roughly 18%. Xu reported full-year insurance-related income of approximately CNY 3.58 billion, up 51.3% year over year, and said other segments accounted for about 10.1% of total revenue.
Wei Ran, director and general manager of the insurance business, said the fourth quarter maintained strong momentum, with insurance-related income rising 125% year over year to CNY 1.31 billion and operating profit increasing 42% to CNY 160 million. He highlighted improvements in traffic and user identification, citing “self-deployed 50-millisecond data models” that enable rapid attribute capture, hourly health updates, and faster A/B testing to improve high-quality traffic filtering.
On product supply, Wei said the company launched “market first” version 2.0 during the quarter, adding “zero deductible” features that cover long-term medical costs as well as routine medical expenses. He also said a pre-existing condition product gained traction, with first-year premiums (FYT) “nearly 70%,” and that disability insurance contributed about CNY 100 million in FYT.
Wei emphasized that AI is now embedded “in every node” of the service chain. He cited several AI-driven metrics disclosed on the call:
- AI Pro Insurance agent on the mini program drove a 33% sequential increase in premiums.
- AI medical insurance experts generated over CNY 50 million in FYT, up 145% quarter over quarter.
- The Life Planner Copilot cumulatively assisted in over 370,000 inquiries as of quarter end.
- AI customer service agents handled over 1.4 million inquiries per month and, with quality-control support, boosted per-capita efficiency to 2.75 times the manual-only baseline.
Wei also said the company’s WeChat CDOT AI platform is fully operational after the fourth quarter rollout of core modules such as workflow agents, batch testing, and proactive task triggers, and that it has been opened to partners, including insurers.
Medical crowdfunding: privacy, authenticity, and platform governance
Management reported continued scale in Waterdrop’s medical crowdfunding platform. As of the end of 2025, the company said approximately 490 million people had cumulatively donated CNY 72.3 billion to 3.68 million patients.
Executives said the company strengthened risk controls to protect privacy and content authenticity. The company upgraded systems using large language models to identify sensitive data and apply real-time dynamic masking, targeting items such as ID numbers, bank accounts, and medical record IDs, shifting from manual redaction to automatic detection and masking. To address authenticity, management said it deployed a model combining a medical knowledge graph with credential validation to cross-reference clinical logic and identify fabricated risks. The company also launched a standardized inquiry toolkit aimed at clarifying service scope, fee structures, and content deadlines.
Digital clinical trials and AI technology updates
Waterdrop highlighted progress in its healthcare business, particularly digital clinical trial services. Shen said LLM integration increased the value of the company’s medical performance platform, which has responded to 3.68 million patients since launch. He also said the company’s digital clinical trial solutions enrolled over 4,000 patients during the year.
Management said the E-Find platform partnered with 224 pharmaceutical companies and enrolled a cumulative 14,055 patients, while initiating 131 new programs and setting a new quarterly enrollment record. The company also reported that its proprietary E-Find patient matching technology was granted a national invention patent in China. Executives described the system as combining deep neural networks with natural language processing to match patients to trials using both structured filters (such as age and lab results) and analysis of unstructured medical records against trial criteria, reducing screening workloads from weeks to minutes.
On technology strategy more broadly, Shen said Waterdrop is accelerating its shift to become an “AI-native” company. As of year-end 2023, he said the company had filed 72 LLM-related patent applications, including nine international filings. He also described deployment of a multi-modal AI agent supporting text, voice, and virtual interactions across workflows spanning acquisition, conversion, sales productivity, customer service, quality control, and R&D, unified under the Waterdrop C AI platform, which is now also open to industry partners. He added that the company is developing a collaborative “Guardian AI Copilot” known as CloudSphere, designed for autonomous communication among different AI agents.
Capital returns, expenses, and outlook
Waterdrop announced additional shareholder returns. Shen said the board approved the company’s fifth cash dividend of $0.03 per ADS, totaling $10.8 million, to be paid in late April to early May to shareholders of record as of April 24, 2024 (U.S. Eastern Time). He also said the company’s share repurchase program remained on track, with 60.7 million ADSs repurchased for about $118 million as of the end of February 2024.
On costs, Xu said fourth quarter operating costs were CNY 680 million, up 109.2% year over year, driven by higher referral and service fees and higher SMS costs. Total operating costs and expenses in the fourth quarter rose to CNY 1.33 billion, up 109.4%. For the full year, operating costs and expenses increased 39.1% from 2024. Sales and marketing expenses were approximately CNY 510 million, up 178.4%, which management attributed to scaled investment in third-party traffic channels while also citing improved customer acquisition efficiency. G&A expenses were CNY 77.1 million, up 4.6%, and R&D expenses were approximately CNY 66.2 million, up 21.9%.
Looking ahead, Shen said the company expects to sustain momentum with “moderately higher investment in marketing and AI,” targeting double-digit growth in both revenue and profit.
About Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH)
Waterdrop Inc (NYSE: WDH) is a China-based insurtech and health protection platform that leverages digital technology to connect consumers with insurance and healthcare services. Through its mobile app and online marketplace, Waterdrop offers a range of microinsurance and critical illness products designed to provide affordable coverage for everyday risks. The platform also features crowdfunding channels that enable users to contribute to medical expense relief for individuals facing serious health challenges.
Since its founding in 2016 and headquartered in Shanghai, Waterdrop has grown its partner network to include leading insurance carriers and medical institutions across mainland China.
