ARK, a South Korean AI healthcare startup specializing in early screening for chronic disease complications, has closed a Series A round worth approximately $13.7M (20B KRW). The round was backed by DSC Investment, Kiwoom Investment, Aju IB Investment, SL Investment, Platinum Technology Investment, and Wooshin Ventures.
ARK develops an AI-powered diagnostic screening platform that helps clinicians at hypertension and diabetes practices detect complications early — before they escalate. Its current product suite covers three major vision-threatening conditions (macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy), cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk assessment, and autonomic nervous system evaluation through heart rate variability (HRV) analysis.
The company is a subsidiary of Pusan National University Technology Holdings and builds its AI algorithms on clinical data from national university hospitals. Within just its first year of operations, ARK secured orders and reservations from roughly 1,000 clinics and hospitals across South Korea, completing product delivery to more than 700 of them. Distribution is expanding through a partnership with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, giving ARK a broader footprint across medical institutions nationwide.
With the fresh capital, ARK plans to enhance its core products, broaden its clinical dataset, and accelerate regulatory approval processes in preparation for both domestic and international market expansion.
