Medical artificial intelligence (AI) startup YeziX (CEO Seonghyeon Jeong) announced on the 15th that it has secured seed investment from Kakao Ventures and Schmidt. The terms and amount of the investment were not disclosed.
YeziX is a startup founded by Jeong Seong-hyeon, former CEO of Promedius, the company that commercialized Korea's first AI osteoporosis solution. Prior to joining Promedius, Jeong led global business development at Lunit, where he spearheaded the medical AI company's expansion into overseas markets.
The company focuses on heart failure, a condition with a high readmission rate. More than 20% of heart failure patients are reportedly readmitted within 30 days of discharge due to worsening conditions, and Medicare operates a comprehensive reimbursement system for heart failure. Consequently, hospitals face a significant financial burden managing readmissions, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) imposes penalties on hospitals with high readmission rates through the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). The annual penalty can be as high as $5 million (approximately 7.1 billion won) per hospital.
YeziX developed a "multimodal foundation model" that analyzes electronic health record (EHR) data and medical images simultaneously. Based on this, the company built an algorithm that predicts the risk of readmission within 30 days for heart failure patients. This technology supports hospitals in identifying and intensively managing patients at high risk of readmission before discharge. This is expected to lower readmission rates, reduce penalty burden, and secure additional beds, thereby improving profitability.
Kakao Ventures Senior Analyst Jooyeon Jeong said, “YejiX is a team that deeply understands the structural problems of the medical system and the value of AI. We decided to invest in them because they have a clear direction to lower readmission rates and increase medical efficiency through innovative multimodal AI technology.”
Jeong Seong-hyeon, CEO of YejiX, said, “We aim to use AI to predict patients’ prognosis and contribute to improving hospital operation efficiency and profitability,” and added, “Based on this investment, we will accelerate technological advancement and lay the foundation for entering the U.S. market.”
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