NearDoc Secures Pre-A Investment... Automatically Generates Medical Records from Doctor-Patient Conversations

Adopted by Over 300 Clinics and Hospitals in Just Two Months
Aiming for No.1 in Asia in AI Medical Charting

The artificial intelligence (AI) medical service "NearDoc," which automatically generates medical records based solely on conversations between doctors and patients, has successfully secured its initial investment. This achievement is being interpreted as recognition for the company’s ability to acquire a large number of hospitals early on, based on its own capabilities.

On July 6, a representative from Studio Kiko, the developer of NearDoc, stated, "We have raised a Pre-A investment from Smilegate Investment, Korea Investment Accelerator, and Strong Ventures." The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

NearDoc service screen. NearDoc

NearDoc is an AI service that listens in real time to conversations between doctors and patients in the examination room and automatically creates completed medical records (SOAP charts) without any additional input, which are immediately entered into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. This allows doctors to reduce the burden of charting and focus entirely on their patients.

This type of "clinical ambient AI scribe" is one of the fastest-growing categories in the global healthcare market. In the United States, 70% of doctors are already using AI charting tools. The leading company in the sector, Abridge, has been valued at approximately 7.4 trillion won, while the second-ranked company, Nabla, has received a valuation of about 4.9 trillion won. The size of the related market is also projected to grow about fivefold, from 6 billion dollars last year to 30 billion dollars by 2033.

NearDoc CEO Sehoon Kim, CTO Kyungmook Ryu, CMO Changmin Lee. NearDoc

In the domestic market, previous solutions were limited to simple transcription or faced the risk of generating false information due to the use of general-purpose AI. However, NearDoc has overcome these challenges with its proprietary medical AI engine "Xynar." As the first company in Asia to commercialize a globally competitive end-to-end service, NearDoc was adopted by over 300 clinics and hospitals within two months of its launch, solely through word-of-mouth among doctors, without any advertising. Hospitals that have implemented the service have seen charting time reduced by 70% and the number of patients treated increase by 1.5 times, resulting in significant improvements in efficiency.

Studio Kiko plans to focus the newly raised funds on recruiting talent and further advancing its service. The company aims to evolve NearDoc into a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) and a "Medical OS," with the goal of expanding into non-English-speaking Asian markets next year.

Sehoon Kim, CEO of Studio Kiko, stated, "We aim to create examination rooms where doctors can fully focus on their patients and to establish a future medical infrastructure that enables top-tier medical care anywhere."

Yujin Cho, Team Leader at Smilegate Investment, who led this round of investment, commented, "Studio Kiko has demonstrated all the key early achievements, including a proven founding team and a proprietary AI engine, and has secured 300 hospitals without advertising. We expect the company to become a leader in the Asian market going forward."

Studio Kiko is a clinical AI startup led by CEO Kim, a co-founder of the HR tech platform WantedLab; CTO Kyungmook Ryu, who previously served as head of service development at WantedLab; and CMO Changmin Lee, a practicing orthopedic surgeon from Severance Hospital.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.