Connecti is a startup operating an integrated healthcare platform for pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare. It was founded in August 2021 by CEO Ryu Sang-jik, who had worked for Daewoong Pharmaceutical in the digital healthcare sector for 12 years. Ryu noted, "At the time of the founding, there was no domestic platform in the pregnancy and childbirth field," adding, "Given that we had digital healthcare capabilities, I believed that there was a sufficient chance of success if we applied them."
CEO Ryu pointed out that while South Korea's birth rate is declining, the number of people receiving infertility diagnoses is increasing. He said, "Due to late marriages, many people are finding it difficult to get pregnant, which made them feel the challenge of becoming pregnant. I thought it was meaningful to eliminate the pain points of these individuals and focused on platform technology development."
Connecti's platform, "YeoDalHooE", operates in three modes: ▲ Pregnancy ▲ Childbirth ▲ Childcare. In pregnancy mode, users can check hormonal changes and ovulation dates according to their menstrual cycles. The childbirth mode allows for monitoring the health status of mothers and babies through weight management and growth development analysis via fetal ultrasound. The childcare mode enables the management of infant development stages and hospital records.
CEO Ryu explained, "We spent almost no money on marketing last year, yet 110,000 pregnant women signed up for the application due to word-of-mouth," adding, "We currently have about 460,000 cumulative members."
Connecti has been selected for the 8th Seoul Innovation Challenge Startup hosted by the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) and is currently working on a project titled "Nutritional Guide for Pregnant Women to Reduce the Risk of Low Birth Weight Babies." The program aims to assess the risk of fetal growth during pregnancy and provide a nutritional improvement guide for pregnant women to reduce the risk of having low birth weight babies.
CEO Ryu said, "Due to pregnant women's aging and changes in the body shape of women of childbearing age (increased underweight), the percentage of low birth weight babies has exceeded 7% of all newborns, which is about three times higher than in the 1990s," adding, "The National Health Insurance Corporation analyzed one million newborns over seven years and found that children born small showed higher risks in growth, development, and diseases compared to average children."
Connecti analyzes the condition of the fetus and pregnant women from the early stages of pregnancy and uses artificial intelligence (AI) developed based on big data to predict the fetus's weight and birth weight for the following week. It presented a nutrition-centered improvement guide to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes related to excessive weight gain.
The Seoul Innovation Challenge is a pre-research and development (Pre-R&D) program that supports technology-based startups leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution to grow into globally competitive corporations. This initiative, operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the SBA since 2017, aims to discover early stage technology teams with innovative technologies in key industries of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as AI, big data, robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), and healthcare, and support them in achieving successful technology commercialization.
Currently, Connecti employs 12 staff members, more than half of whom, seven, are developers.
CEO Ryu stated, "We are in the stage of developing and completing technology that can predict and improve the risk of birth weight in pregnancy preparation mode," and added, "We are also nearing completion of a model that predicts and improves high-risk births, and we have applied for relevant patents."
Additionally, he emphasized, "Our goal is to create services in at least 20 languages globally by 2027," noting, "We aim to increase our current monthly active user (MAU) count of 96,000 to 4 million."