South Korean AI Medical Startup Soombit.AI Raises $3.6 Million Seed Round.

Seoul, South Korea - Medical artificial intelligence startup Soombit.AI has secured $3.6 million in seed funding from Altos Ventures in a single-investor deal, the company said on Tuesday.

The startup was established by former executives from Kakao Brain's healthcare division, with co-founders Woong Bae, former Chief Healthcare Officer, and Sehoon Kim, who previously led image generation research as CTO.

The company's primary product, AIRead-CXR, is a generative AI-based solution that produces preliminary diagnostic reports for chest X-rays and provides abnormality assessments for radiologists.

Research indicates that 88% of radiologists experience some level of burnout, with 62% reporting severe burnout symptoms, according to company data.

South Korea faces a significant radiologist shortage, with only 4,206 practitioners as of 2023, despite having the world's highest per capita rate of X-ray and CT scan examinations.

The company reported that clinical studies show radiologists using AI-drafted reports reduced reading time by 42% while improving diagnostic quality by 6%.

"The demand for imaging interpretation services is rapidly outpacing the supply of radiologists globally," said CEO Woong Bae, who plans to expand the company's services beyond X-rays to CT scans.

Altos Ventures' investment director Jay Jung said the investment decision was based on the team's proven research and development capabilities from their previous product development experience.

The funding will support talent acquisition and service expansion, as the company aims to develop additional AI services focused on various imaging modalities beyond X-rays.