Contactless healthcare app aims to become S.Korean unicorn

South Korea’s contactless healthcare service app Allacare, launched last year, adheres to its business ethics: direct delivery of prescribed drugs to its subscribers and no prescription of postcoital contraceptives to teenagers.

“We keep on the right side in the digital healthcare market,” said Kim Sung-hyun, founder and CEO of Allacare. The app is operated by Blueant Inc, a Korean startup, established by Kim in 2019.

Allacare was introduced after the South Korean government allowed contactless medical treatment for a temporary period in February 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now remote healthcare services are spreading to other medical service areas beyond COVID-19.

A subscriber to the app fills in his or her symptoms and registers a credit card for payment, then shortly the user is connected to a clinic in the country, no matter how far away they are.

On a video call, the patient shows the affected or wounded area and the doctor prescribes medications to a pharmacist. The prescribed drugs are directly delivered to the patient.

To set it apart from other apps, Allacare sticks to direct delivery systems to prevent the drugs from going bad, or leakages of patient information during the delivery.

Also, doctors registered on its app are banned from prescribing postcoital contraceptives to teenagers, despite concerns that such a business policy could put a dent in its sales.

COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES

To venture into the mobile healthcare service market, Kim acquired Docple, South Korea’s largest online community for medical doctors, to get access to the trends and conditions in the medical industry. Docple’s subscriber count has reached 52,000 members.

Also, Bluecare, the parent of Allacare and Docple, set up an app to help its users file insurance claims for medical services provided by clinics.

Doctors, who used to be against the app arranging contactless medical services, now provide suggestions to improve its service, Kim said.

Its ultimate goal is to provide comprehensive digital healthcare services. As part of such efforts, it has launched a platform for diabetes patients to keep track of their blood sugar levels.

Looking abroad, Allacare is exploring a business partnership with Teladoc Health, a US-based contactless medical service provider.
 
Blueant is now aiming to join the ranks of South Korean unicorns, or companies with a value of 1 trillion ($780 million) or more.

CEO Kim served as CEO of Medisensor, a supplier of medical equipment such as biosensors and diagnostic testing kits. Prior to that, he worked at Samsung SDS Co., a technology consulting and outsourcing company and LG Electronics Inc., a home appliance maker.

After raising 5 billion won in a pre-Series A round last year, Blueant is working on next-round fundraising. He is optimistic that the freezing fundraising market will present an opportunity for his venture in time.

“I will grow our app as one necessary for millennials and Generation Zers, for whom getting in shape is seen as part of self-development.”

Write to Ji-Hyun Lee at bluesky@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.