Five pillars behind the investment thesis.
Korea's international patient volume has grown sharply in recent years (see sourced figures below). That growth is creating urgent, unmet demand for digital infrastructure that can help patients and providers coordinate across language, distance, and time zones at scale.
Today, a foreign patient's path to Korean healthcare runs through disconnected agencies, WhatsApp threads, and manual coordination. No platform currently owns the full journey end-to-end — discovery, qualification, communication, booking, travel, and follow-up.
Most Korean clinics still depend on costly agency intermediaries and manual lead handling to reach international patients. A software-plus-marketplace model can capture value currently lost to fragmented, commission-heavy agency relationships.
AI meaningfully lowers the marginal cost of multilingual support, lead qualification, and 24/7 responsiveness — a cost structure that is difficult for competitors relying purely on human coordinators to match at scale.
DoctorsInKorea.com is intended to support the full international patient journey — from first question to long-term follow-up. The platform provides administrative navigation and coordination tools; it does not provide medical diagnosis.
Fifteen integrated capabilities across the patient and provider journey.
For International patients
Symptom-to-specialty routing and urgency guidance — an administrative navigation aid, not a diagnostic tool.
Value: Faster, more confident matching to the right specialist.
Revenue model: Bundled in subscription tiers; usage-based AI fees at scale.
For Patients
Searchable directory by specialty, location, insurance, and language.
Value: Discoverability and qualified inbound interest for providers.
Revenue model: Clinic subscriptions; featured/premium listings.
For Clinics, hospitals
Lead inbox, patient pipeline, staff roles, and status tracking.
Value: Replaces spreadsheets and informal agency coordination.
Revenue model: Core subscription tiers.
Sourced figures only — see source and verification status under each statistic.
TAM
Total Addressable Market
Global medical tourism, healthcare AI, digital health, and patient engagement.
SAM
Serviceable Available Market
International patients seeking treatment in South Korea and Korean healthcare providers targeting foreign patients.
SOM
Serviceable Obtainable Market
Initial addressable clinics, hospitals, specialists, and medical tourism providers that can be commercially onboarded.
2,011,822 patients
International Patients Treated in Korea
Official government figure — first year foreign patient volume in Korea surpassed 2 million.
71.9 %
YoY Growth in Foreign Patient Volume (2024 to 2025)
All pricing figures are preliminary management assumptions, not confirmed contracts.
Starter, Growth, Pro, and Enterprise tiers for clinics and specialists.
Preliminary pricing assumption: Starter US$99–149/mo · Growth US$249–399/mo · Pro US$499–799/mo · Enterprise custom.
Custom annual contracts for hospital groups.
Preliminary commercial assumption: US$10,000–US$50,000+ per hospital annually.
Featured doctors, featured clinics, sponsored specialties and locations, priority placement.
AI receptionist usage, voice processing, translation, video consultation minutes, document processing.
Qualified lead fees, completed booking fees, medical tourism coordination, concierge, travel, and insurance referral fees — only where legally permitted in each jurisdiction.
Healthcare brands, medical device companies, travel partners, insurance providers, and sponsored educational content, subject to healthcare advertising regulation.
For hospital groups, medical tourism agencies, insurance companies, government programs, and enterprise healthcare networks.
First 3 Months
3–6 Months
Investments involve risk, including the risk of total loss. Returns are not guaranteed.
Neutral comparison labels — we do not claim a competitor category lacks a feature unless verified.
| Feature | DoctorsInKorea.com | Traditional directories | Medical tourism agencies | General booking platforms | Generic CRM systems | Standalone translation tools | Standalone telemedicine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korea-focused healthcare discovery | Core feature | Core feature | Partner-dependent | Limited | Not typically included | Not typically included | Not typically included |
| Full international patient journey | Core feature | Not typically included | Partner-dependent | Limited | Not typically included | Not typically included | Limited |
| AI assistant | Core feature | Not typically included |
An honest assessment — investing in an early-stage platform involves real risk.
Possible impact: Restrictions on cross-border care coordination or advertising could limit certain features.
Mitigation: Legal review per market before launch; features designed to be jurisdiction-configurable.
Owner: Founder / Legal Advisor
Review frequency: Quarterly
Possible impact: Sponsored/premium listing revenue could be constrained in some markets.
Mitigation: Compliance review of all sponsor/advertising features per jurisdiction before enabling.
Owner: Founder / Legal Advisor
Review frequency: Quarterly
Possible impact: Mishandled patient data could create legal and reputational risk.
Mitigation: Row-level database security on every table; minimal data collection; consent capture at signup.
Owner: Technology Lead
Review frequency: Ongoing
We do not claim HIPAA, GDPR, Korean PIPA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, or any other certification unless actually implemented and verified.
Provider verification
ImplementedVerification-status field on clinic, doctor, supplier, and agency records; admin review before activation.
Consent management
ImplementedExplicit consent capture at patient and investor-form signup.
Data privacy
Designed to supportMinimal data collection; access scoped by row-level database security.
Role-based access
ImplementedEvery account type (clinic, patient, supplier, agency, admin) is scoped by database-enforced row-level security.
Audit logs
PlannedNot yet implemented for this platform.
Secure authentication
ImplementedManaged authentication via Supabase Auth.
Encryption
ImplementedData encrypted at rest and in transit via the underlying cloud infrastructure.
These are potential long-term outcomes, not commitments, guarantees, or a promised exit timeline. A public-market pathway is included only for completeness and is not expected at this stage.
Abbas Al Masri
Founder & CEO
Hayya Med Artificial Intelligence
Position open
Product & Technology Leadership
Position open
Medical Advisor
Position open
Legal & Compliance Advisor
Position open
Market Development
Position open
International Patient Operations
Position open
Strategic Partners
Investment information on this page is provided for discussion purposes only and does not constitute an offer, solicitation, or financial guarantee. Figures marked Target, Projection, Estimate, or Management Assumption are illustrative and not guaranteed outcomes. Investments involve risk, including the risk of total loss; past or projected performance is not indicative of future results.
A subscription-plus-transactional model (clinic SaaS, enterprise licenses, referral and coordination fees) is structurally more durable and compounding than the one-off commission revenue typical of traditional medical tourism agencies.
For Clinics
24/7 automated inquiry handling via chat and WhatsApp.
Value: Fewer missed leads outside business hours.
Revenue model: Usage-based AI fees.
For Patients, clinic staff
Real-time chat in the patient's preferred language.
Value: Removes the language barrier at first contact.
Revenue model: Bundled in subscription; usage tiers for high volume.
For Patients, doctors
Live speech translation for calls and consultations.
Value: More accurate cross-language communication during care.
Revenue model: Per-minute or per-session usage fee.
For Patients, doctors
Secure pre-arrival screening or remote follow-up consultation.
Value: Pre-travel confidence and post-treatment continuity.
Revenue model: Per-session fee; premium subscription feature.
For Clinics, patients
Booking, scheduling, and reminders.
Value: Fewer no-shows, smoother clinic operations.
Revenue model: Bundled in subscription.
For Clinics
Lead capture with source tracking across channels.
Value: Measurable ROI on international patient acquisition spend.
Revenue model: Subscription tier.
For Clinics
Campaign tooling, content generation, and SEO support.
Value: Lower cost and complexity for international marketing.
Revenue model: Subscription; premium add-on.
For Agencies, clinics
Referral tracking, agency portal access, and commission tracking.
Value: A structured, trackable international patient pipeline.
Revenue model: Referral and coordination fees, where legally permitted.
For Patients, clinics
Post-treatment check-ins and reminders.
Value: Better outcomes and stronger patient retention.
Revenue model: Bundled feature; enterprise add-on.
For Clinics, hospitals
Conversion, lead-source, and provider performance dashboards.
Value: Data-driven decisions on marketing and operations.
Revenue model: Subscription tier; enterprise reporting add-on.
For Insurers, patients
Provider-network and eligibility/policy integrations.
Value: Streamlined coverage verification for international patients.
Revenue model: Partnership and referral fees.
For Hospital groups, agencies, government
White-label and API access into partner systems.
Value: Extends the platform into an enterprise partner's own infrastructure.
Revenue model: Enterprise license; API usage fees.
China and Taiwan patient volumes each more than doubled year-over-year.
12.5 KRW trillion (approx. USD 8.4B)
Foreign Patient & Companion Spending in Korea
Total tourism + medical spend by foreign patients and companions; KRW 3.3T of this was medical services specifically.
Source: The Korea Herald
1,170,000 patients (approx.)
International Patients Treated in Korea (2024, prior year)
93.2% growth over 2023, the year before the 2025 surge past 2 million.
34 USD billion
Global Medical Tourism Market Size (2025 estimate)
Analyst estimates vary significantly by methodology — other major research firms estimate this market between USD 34B and USD 94B for 2025. Presented as a market-opportunity indicator, not a precise figure.
Source: Grand View Research
Reserve for unplanned costs.
Valuation and equity terms are not published publicly and are available under NDA. Percentages above are a proposed allocation, not a binding commitment.
6–12 Months
12–24 Months
| Not typically included |
| Limited |
| Limited |
| Not typically included |
| Not typically included |
| Clinic CRM | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included | Limited | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included |
| Multilingual communication | Core feature | Not typically included | Partner-dependent | Limited | Limited | Core feature | Limited |
| Voice translation | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included | Not typically included | Not typically included | Core feature | Limited |
| Video consultation | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included | Limited | Not typically included | Not typically included | Core feature |
| Medical tourism coordination | Core feature | Not typically included | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included | Not typically included | Not typically included |
| Lead tracking & marketing automation | Core feature | Not typically included | Limited | Limited | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included |
| Provider analytics | Core feature | Limited | Not typically included | Limited | Core feature | Not typically included | Limited |
| Enterprise / white-label integrations | Core feature | Not typically included | Not typically included | Limited | Limited | Not typically included | Limited |
Possible impact: International patient data crossing jurisdictions may trigger local data-residency rules.
Mitigation: Data residency review per target market before regional expansion.
Owner: Legal Advisor
Review frequency: Per market launch
Possible impact: Video consultation may be restricted or require specific licensing in some jurisdictions.
Mitigation: Legal review before enabling video consultation in a new market.
Owner: Founder / Legal Advisor
Review frequency: Per market launch
Possible impact: Unverified providers could damage trust and platform credibility.
Mitigation: Verification-status field on every provider record; manual admin review before activation.
Owner: Operations
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: Platform must not be construed as providing medical advice or diagnosis.
Mitigation: Medical disclaimers on every patient-facing page; AI explicitly scoped to administrative routing, not diagnosis.
Owner: Founder / Medical Advisor
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: Mistranslation in a medical context could cause harm or miscommunication.
Mitigation: Human escalation path planned for high-stakes conversations; translation quality monitoring on the roadmap.
Owner: Technology Lead
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: AI could produce an inaccurate or inappropriate response.
Mitigation: AI scoped to administrative/navigation tasks only; structured output validation; human review for edge cases.
Owner: Technology Lead
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: Slow clinic/hospital signup would limit both sides of the marketplace.
Mitigation: Direct outreach, free/low-cost onboarding tiers, and hospital pilot programs.
Owner: Sales / Founder
Review frequency: Monthly
Possible impact: International patient acquisition can be expensive relative to booking value.
Mitigation: Multi-channel acquisition strategy; partnership-driven referral channels to reduce paid CAC.
Owner: Growth / Marketing
Review frequency: Monthly
Possible impact: Enterprise hospital contracts may take many months to close.
Mitigation: Pipeline built with realistic timelines; parallel focus on faster-closing clinic segment.
Owner: Sales
Review frequency: Monthly
Possible impact: AI, translation, video, and payment providers are external dependencies.
Mitigation: Provider abstraction where practical; monitoring and fallback plans for critical integrations.
Owner: Technology Lead
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: A breach could expose sensitive patient or business data.
Mitigation: Role-based access control, encrypted data at rest and in transit, ongoing security review.
Owner: Technology Lead
Review frequency: Ongoing
Possible impact: Larger platforms or well-funded agencies could enter the same space.
Mitigation: Focus on Korea-specific depth and full-journey integration as differentiation.
Owner: Founder
Review frequency: Quarterly
Possible impact: Insufficient capital could slow product development and market entry.
Mitigation: Phased milestone-based use of funds; conservative burn management.
Owner: Founder
Review frequency: Monthly
Data retention controls
PlannedFormal retention policy not yet defined.
AI safety controls
ImplementedAI navigation is explicitly scoped to administrative routing, not diagnosis, with a stated disclaimer.
Medical disclaimers
ImplementedDisplayed across patient-facing pages platform-wide.
Translation quality controls
PlannedNot yet implemented.
Human escalation
PlannedNot yet implemented.
Incident-response process
PlannedNot yet formally documented.
Vendor & API security review
Under assessmentOngoing as new integrations are added.
Medical Disclaimer: DoctorsInKorea.com provides AI-assisted doctor discovery and booking support only. AI tools do not replace professional medical advice or diagnosis. Medical decisions remain with licensed healthcare professionals registered with Korea's health authorities (Ministry of Health and Welfare). Emergency: call 119.
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