Foot Specialist Startup Dr. Podi Disrupts Insole Market | DBR

CEO Park Eun-soo

The core of this award is that a foot specialist directly founded the company and developed functional insoles based on clinical data, successfully targeting the gap between expensive custom-made medical insoles and the low-priced mass market.

At present, the domestic insole market is polarized between medical products sold at hospitals that cost several hundred thousand to several million KRW and low-priced products with minimal effectiveness. Founded in 2020, Pureun Cheongnyeon is a healthcare startup established by CEO Park Eun-soo, a former foot specialist at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, who has incorporated extensive clinical experience into the business. Through its own brand “Bareun Doctor Research Institute,” it has launched “Dr.PODI,” a functional insole designed to help alleviate foot pain.

In particular, it features a self-adjustment system that allows users to directly adjust the arch height, with a corrective protocol that strongly supports integrated management of chronic foot disorders such as plantar fasciitis, flat feet, in-toeing, arthritis, and ankle instability.

Having received the Excellent Patent Award, Pureun Cheongnyeon is currently increasing its market share through 25 hospital sales channels and online distribution networks. Going forward, the company plans to drive further digital healthcare innovation by developing smart insoles utilizing gait data from Dr.PODI. CEO Park stated, “Based on medical reliability, the company will protect the nation’s foot health.”