Asian Tech Press (Sep 9) -- Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (700: Hong Kong) beat out its rivals Alibaba and ByteDance to lead a $60 million investment in healthcare service chain Distinct Healthcare Co. Ltd., media reported Thursday.

The round is the Series E strategic financing of the medtech startup, with a total financing of $60 million and a post-money valuation of about 4 billion yuan ($619 million).

During the financing process, Alibaba and ByteDance also tried to enter the Series E round of financing of Distinct Healthcare. And Tencent confirmed the investment after two or three months of contact with the potential investee, beating out the two competitors.

A source close to the deal said that ByteDance and Alibab also tried to follow the investment in this round, but failed.

The head of investment department from an Internet company said that the unsuccessful follow-on investment was mainly attributed to an exclusivity agreement by Tencent when it invested. He believes that Tencent's exclusivity agreement actually defines its "sphere of influence" and limits the choice of investors for small and medium-sized startups.

Founded in 2012, Distinct Healthcare is a integrated, multi-specialty, high-end medical service chain with family-based primary care as its core, offering both online and offline healthcare services.

(US$1 = 6.4591 yuan)