[Kakao]
SEOUL -- Kakao, the operator of South Korea's most popular smartphone messenger app, took an adventurous step into the emerging market of healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) by launching a joint venture involving Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Kakao Investment, the venture capital investment subsidiary of Kakao, said in a statement on Wednesday that it established a joint venture with Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, the shipbuilding group's holding company, and Asan Medical Center, a general hospital renowned for cancer treatment.
"By utilizing high-quality medical data and Kakao's technology, the joint venture will create an ecosystem for nurturing the medical AI business," an unnamed Kakao Investment official was quoted as saying.
Kakao Investment and Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings agreed to invest five billion won ($4.5 million) each in the joint venture, tentatively named Asan Kakao Medical Center, which will develop an AI-based big data platform to manage medical data such as clinical test results, operation records and electronic medical records.
The global market for healthcare AI is expected to reach $28 billion by 2025, according to Statistica, a New York-based market research firm. The healthcare AI market is also growing rapidly in South Korea where hospitals adopted AI platforms such as US computer company IBM's Watson to diagnose cancer.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
