Medihere, a telemedicine provider to ethnic Koreans in the United States, said Thursday that it has attracted 3 billion won ($2.7 million) in investment. Korea Investment Partners (KIP) led the investment, in which Intervest and Wells Investment participated.
Medihere’s telemedicine application, “MEDIHERE,” addresses three problems Korean immigrants face when using healthcare services in the U.S., according to the company.
In the U.S., Korean immigrants spend an average of $10,000 on medical bills a year, the highest in the world. Besides, patients have to wait for about 24.1 days on average to see their doctors. Many ethnic Koreans also have trouble describing their symptoms in English or understanding doctors’ explanations of the treatment.
To solve these problems, Medihere provides a membership that can receive unlimited remote treatment and prescription for $119 a year.
Members can contact Korean family physicians in five minutes through the platform without standing by or booking a reservation and send a prescription to personally preferred pharmacies.
Medihere has provided 20,000 cases of service in six months since it launched the service after the government temporarily allowed remote treatment due to the Covid-19, proving the potential of the telemedicine market and its platform's safety.
The company also has grown rapidly, recording a four-fold increase in the number of paid subscribers a month since it launched unlimited telemedicine and prescription service to the U.S. members in September.
KIP Managing Director Park Min-sik said that telemedicine services' global demand is increasing rapidly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Park added that Medihere, which had made significant achievements with the early introduction of its service in Korea, would grow further in the U.S. as Americans have a higher awareness of telemedicine than Koreans.
“We plan to expand the telemedicine service for Korean Americans through this investment,” Medihere CEO Kim Ki-han said. “Our goal is to build a healthy Korean society by enhancing access to healthcare with information technology so that all Koreans around the world can receive treatment more easily and conveniently.”