Kiip raises 1B KRW seed to expand medical tourism platform iipuda abroad
What's the deal? Kiip, the Korean startup behind global medical tourism platform iipuda, has raised a 1,000,000,000 KRW (about $652,975) seed round. Antler KoreaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, AX Ventures, the Busan Center for Creative Economy Innovation, Fantastic Wellness, and Unnoted took part. The round combined new share issuance with a SAFE.
What's the endgame? iipuda connects overseas users seeking plastic surgery, dermatology, and dental services in Korea with local medical institutions. The app supports Japanese, English, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese, letting users search providers and book consultations in one place.
The numbers: Monthly users have grown to roughly 10,000, and affiliated Korean medical institutions have reached 35. The seed follows a pre-seed from Antler Korea, bringing cumulative funding to about 1B KRW.
Why now? Foreign patient visits to Korea rose from 610,000 in 2023 to 1.17 million in 2024 and 2.01 million in 2025 — nearly doubling each year. That surge strengthens the case for platforms that digitise booking, consultation, and price comparison.
Where the money goes: Kiip plans to focus the capital on Japan, English-speaking markets, Taiwan, and China. The strategy pairs stronger global marketing with local partnerships to grow both overseas users and its medical network.
What could go wrong? Competition among medical tourism platforms is intensifying at home and abroad. Kiip is still small, and expansion across four markets at once will test its capital and local execution.
The signal: The round marks a clear step-up from Kiip's earlier funding and shows AI-based platforms are starting to draw capital in Korea's fast-growing medical tourism and wellness market. With Hong Kong government programme selection and Google's startup accelerator behind it, this seed looks less like early money than a bridge toward later rounds and international investors.
Read more: venturesquare.net
Image credit: KOREA.NET - Official page of the Republic of Korea
