Kakao Ventures Backs Vivid Health’s Innovative Weight Loss App, Bbiyak

Kakao Ventures Backs Vivid Health’s Innovative Weight Loss App, Bbiyak

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The Korean-based company Vivid Health, operating the obesity treatment management platform “Bbiyak,” has secured seed investment from Kakao Ventures. The company is recognized for effectively tapping into the growing market for obesity treatment, addressing the challenges faced by users before and after medication.

Bbiyak offers specialized information for users of obesity treatment drugs, functioning as a social diet app where users can share their weight management journeys. It provides user reviews on various obesity treatment drugs, including appetite suppressants and GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1), covering side effects, satisfaction, and effectiveness. Users can connect with others who share similar characteristics like gender, body mass index (BMI), and lifestyle for mutual exercise and diet management. Bbiyak aims to prevent the yo-yo effect, a significant challenge in obesity treatment, by encouraging continuous management post-medication, helping users maintain weight loss effects.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global obese population is projected to rise from 1 billion in 2020 to 1.9 billion in 2035. The global obesity treatment market is expected to reach around 103 trillion won by 2030. A survey by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety indicated that approximately 10% of the adult obese population in Korea has experience with prescription obesity drugs. Despite the increasing trend in the obesity treatment market and consumers, there’s a lack of user-specific communities. The scattered information on drug side effects and maintenance after discontinuation has resulted in ongoing difficulties for individual patients.

Vivid Health plans to officially launch the Bbiyak app in April to facilitate high-quality information sharing among users and create a sustainable daily life. They also plan to develop a Pharmacovigilance (PV) system to analyze data on drug side effects and adverse reactions occurring after market release, aiming to detect safety issues that were unpredictable before market launch. Through this, they intend to contribute to the development of safer and more effective pharmaceuticals.

Ahn Hye-won from Kakao Ventures expressed expectations that Vivid Health, with its expertise in building healthcare communities, will establish itself as a core platform encompassing patients, healthcare professionals, and pharmaceutical companies in the rapidly growing obesity drug market.

Vivid Health CEO Cheon Ye-seul stated, “Bbiyak will become a service that shares information on obesity treatment drugs, creating a platform that touches each other’s hearts throughout the user’s entire journey from before the prescription to discontinuation.” 

Led by serial entrepreneurs Cheon Ye-seul and Jo Jae-min, Vivid Health aims to be a focal point connecting patients and the healthcare ecosystem based on their community-building capabilities and accumulated trust within the healthcare ecosystem.

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