Korean Venture Businesses in the Spotlight

HeraldK — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 00:28:07 +0000

Lee Jae-yong, CEO of Infomining, is busy these days. In addition to daily meetings and meetings, there are constant calls from home and abroad that they are interested in technology.

CEO Lee Jae-yong contacted Korea and the U.S. (local medical hospitals and institutions in the U.S.) and said, “We are getting calls from ITbook, Kitahara International Hospital, Inocheer Medical Device Company, Inoue Hospital, and Smart City Construction Agency.”Infomining is an AI medical big data company that measures biometric signals in real time and provides disease prediction, diagnosis, and analysis through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Since its foundation in January 2019, CEO Lee and other executives and employees have been running nonstop for more than three years.All but eight of the 30 executives and employees are developers, so they are “all-in” on technology development. There are three AI teams and each has a software team and a hardware team.

The platform, which will be infomining’s representative application (app), automatically monitors body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and oxygen saturation through smartwatch-based monitoring and analyzes it as an AI model. In addition, customized healthcare services are provided to support detailed situation management and non-face-to-face treatment through self-diagnosis.Hardware is also under development. The ‘Medi Watch’, which is a smartwatch type, has already been developed. This game has already been carried out more than 70% for medical device certification approval in Korea, and clinical trials are underway.It has already been verified to be suitable for efficiency of more than 95%, and specific inquiries about license use or device use are being received in the United States and Japan.

CEO Lee said, “In the second half of this year, we will release the first batch of biomarker (indicators that can detect changes in the body using DNA and metabolites) using MediWatch,” and added, “We will provide cloud-based services so that medical institutions and local governments can easily introduce them.”The technology that is of particular interest from the outside is ‘pre-questioning’. Pre-examination is a service that provides medical staff with age, gender, symptoms, social skills such as alcohol and tobacco, family history, and past history of patients before telemedicine or visiting treatment. It enables more effective treatment in a short treatment time represented by ‘three-minute treatment’.It i s on the verge of a contract with a U.S. telemedicine healthcare company to export pre-questioning technology. It is also looking forward to exporting other technologies by collaborating with this company for technology application for the next five years.It is also discussing cooperation with large domestic companies to establish a non-face-to-face treatment platform in Vietnam. Vietnam is highly interested in the care of cancer patients discharged from the hospital after surgery, so the “post-examination” service will be mainly used rather than pre-examination. Discussions are continuing, such as holding a meeting for the first time earlier this month.There is another project to proceed in Vietnam. This time, it is a proposal from Japan. Just a while ago, a large Japanese medical foundation is planning to install a general hospital in Vietnam by 2024, and a proposal was made to take charge of telemedicine system solutions in Infomining.CEO Lee said, “There have been various discussions with large companies, but there have been many times when it has not happened,” adding, “Various proposals are good, but we try to be careful until we sign a formal contract.”CEO Lee plans to visit the U.S. at the invitation of a company that will sign a technology export contract between July and August. It is the first overseas business trip since COVID-19. “Until now, sales have been low until last year because of R&D, but this year, it is expected to grow more than 10 times compared to the previous year and grow rapidly in the future,” he said.Already, the healthcare market is a field that has achieved continuous interest and development by combining medical care and IT worldwide.After Pandemic, investment and R&D in collective healthcare are more active, so the role of infomining.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

KilSung.Choi

Asia Journal

Healthcare companies, artificial intelligence in the spotlight.

HeraldK — Fri, 27 May 2022 00:00:11 +0000

Cathie Wood, CEO of Arc Investment, bought an additional $20 million worth of shares in telemedicine company “Teladoc.” Teladoc’s stock price fell 40% in a day, but he rather started to buy a low point, saying, “Investors are not aware of the true value.”

CNBC reported on the 2nd that Arc Investment purchased an additional 386,712 shares of Teladoc through the “Arc Innovation Exchange Traded Fund” on the 28th. On this day, Teladoc’s stock price plunged 40.15% from the previous day to $33.51.

According to CNBC, Arc Investment bought about 610,000 shares of Teladoc from four funds, including Arc Innovation ETF. The total purchase amount is estimated to be about $20.4 million based on the closing price of the day.

Teladoc’s stock price plunged as it announced its sluggish first-quarter earnings. Sales rose 25 percent year-on-year to $565.4 million in the first quarter, but fell below the stock market’s estimate of $569 million. It also lowered its sales forecast for this year from $2.65 billion to $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

This is because the company’s net profit was expected to surge as telemedicine increased due to the COVID-19 crisis, but its net profit decreased due to intensifying competition. Stock prices of other telemedicine companies also plunged at the same time.However, CEO Wood claimed that Teladoc was undervalued, saying, “Investors are missing shares equivalent to Amazon.”

In an interview with CNBC on the 29th, he said, “Although we had to lower our forecasts due to a drop in short-term sales, Teladoc could become a ‘category killer’ in the healthcare sector for the next 5 to 10 years.” Taking Teladoc’s recent collaboration with Northwell Health, the largest medical institution in New York, as an example, Teladoc’s B2B business will grow further in the future.Arc Investment is the largest shareholder with a 12.14% stake in Teladoc.

As Teladoc stock prices plunge, the return on funds is also on the decline. Arc Innovation ETF closed at $47.13 on the 29th, down 3.56%. Compared to February 12th of last year (156.58 dollars), it plunged 69.90%.

Among them, there is a company that customizes a solution that combines artificial intelligence of Korean infomining (CEO : Jae-yong Lee). The company is already planning to supply watch-type devices and diagnostic management solutions by signing a solution contract at Yonsei University Severance Hospital, a university hospital of Korea’s leading medical institution. In addition, it has signed an NDA with ITBook, a Japanese healthcare company, and is conducting initial sample test transactions. Of course, looking at start-up venture companies making transactions and signing contracts to do business beyond their interest in Korea, Japan, and the United States, they clearly know that their advanced technology and development capabilities are great. In addition, the currently developed smartwatch-type devices are also devoted to medical device licensing, and primary investment was received in this process.Although it is a domestic investment in Korea, investors seem to have great interest and high expectations for their development.