Digital healthcare startup Wavena has secured seed funding of 200 million won (approximately USD 150,000) from Seoul Techno Holdings and been selected for TIPS, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ private investment–led technology startup support program.
Wavena Inc. develops an artificial intelligence solution that predicts more than 30 blood biomarkers, with continuous values and confidence intervals, within seconds using only a 10-second electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement without blood draws. In conventional clinical workflows, blood tests typically require 120 minutes from sample collection through transport to analysis, creating a bottleneck that delays the critical window for patient care. Wavena’s solution overcomes this limitation, enabling proactive intervention within 30 minutes and fundamentally transforming the clinical decision-making paradigm.
The company has built a database of more than 4 million one-to-one ECG–blood-sample matched records collected at Seoul National University Hospital main campus, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam Healthcare Center, establishing a formidable data moat relative to competitors. Using this dataset, Wavena has demonstrated world-leading performance with AUROC scores of 0.89–0.92 for nine key biomarkers including hyperkalemia, renal function, anemia, and heart failure.
With the Seoul Techno Holdings investment and the TIPS selection, Wavena has secured additional R&D capital to accelerate its expansion. The TIPS project will specifically help the company gather data through a network of 20 nephrology hospitals and refine its algorithm for hemodialysis patients.
Wavena is currently commercializing four pipelines: the real-time alert solution for dialysis centers Wavena Medical (targeting Korean MFDS approval early next year), the B2C smartwatch-integrated wellness app Wavena One, the non-invasive continuous glucose monitor GlucoWave, and the companion animal ECG AI Wavet.
“We are honored to receive formal recognition of Wavena’s technological innovation and market potential through this investment from Seoul Techno Holdings and selection for TIPS,” said Wavena CEO Yongcheol Kim, a clinical professor in nephrology at Seoul National University Hospital. “We will transform everyday health through needle-free innovation and set a new global healthcare standard by unlocking the infinite potential of ECG data.”
“We decided to invest because of Wavena’s unparalleled AI capabilities built on clinical data and the founding team’s deep expertise in meeting real medical needs,” said Seoul Techno Holdings CEO Inhwan Cha. “We expect the TIPS program will help them sharpen their technical maturity and achieve global scale.”
