Femtech startup Vespexx targets global markets through collaboration with FDA/IVDR-approved female hormone diagnostic tech
Vespexx, operator of the couples-centered AI wellness platform Signaling, has announced it will make a full-scale push into global markets in 2026, leveraging exclusive access to Sugentech's female hormone diagnostic technology.
Vespexx stated it will combine Sugentech's biotech capabilities with its own AI and IT expertise to enter global markets as Korea's representative femtech company.
Vespexx is uniquely positioned as the only company in Korea's femtech market that can draw on all three of the following: a platform with proven mass-market success domestically, an R&D infrastructure backed by a KOSDAQ-listed parent company, and FDA-approved diagnostic technology. These three pillars form the foundation of Vespexx's identity as Korea's femtech standard-bearer on the global stage.
Sugentech, Vespexx's parent company, was founded in 2011 and listed on the KOSDAQ in 2019. It is a global in vitro diagnostics company leading the femtech market with FDA-approved digital pregnancy and ovulation tests and a five-hormone women's health measurement platform. Sugentech CEO Mijin Son is one of the most prominent female CEOs of a KOSDAQ-listed company in Korea's biotech industry. She holds a medical doctorate, has served as a researcher at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was a senior researcher at LG Life Sciences. Since 2019, she has also served as Vice Chair of the Korea In Vitro Diagnostics Industry Association.
Another key strength is the Bio Femtech Research Center established by Sugentech in January 2024, led by Director Rimi Lee, who has spent over a decade conducting experiments, planning, and development in the in vitro diagnostics field. The center is a tech-focused women's health research organization that combines diagnostic technology, AI, and data-driven algorithms, with a goal of leading the entire women's health space on the back of exceptional expertise in pregnancy and ovulation markets.
Vespexx is a team that develops healthcare products to global standards. By combining data-driven product design with user experience optimization, the company has successfully transformed the high barriers of entry in healthcare into a widely accessible platform. Signaling has demonstrated strong product competitiveness with a user return rate 12 times higher than the average health app and customer acquisition costs 29 times more efficient. These results earned Vespexx the Pioneer Awards 2024 from global product analytics platform Amplitude — the first Korean company ever to receive this honor — and a spot on AI Wellness's Top 100 Innovation 2025 list.
Co-CEO Scarlett Joowon Jung is a first-generation femtech entrepreneur in Korea who has been studying the femtech market for eight years, building her expertise through experience in Silicon Valley, founding companies, and working in venture capital. She commented: "To represent Korea in the global femtech market, you need to have all three elements in place: platform, technology, and R&D. Vespexx handles user experience and AI platform growth; Sugentech contributes diagnostic hardware and global networks; and the Femtech Research Center leads cutting-edge research. It's a perfectly structured division of labor."
She added: "The combination of CEO Mijin Son's 30 years pioneering biotech diagnostics, Research Director Rimi Lee's decade of in vitro diagnostics R&D experience, and Vespexx's expertise in the global B2C femtech market creates a female leadership structure with no precedent in Korea's femtech ecosystem. The synergy created by bringing these distinct areas of expertise together is the DNA of Korea's femtech national team."
Vespexx has designated 2026 as its year of global breakthrough. The company is targeting 10 billion KRW in annual revenue, with plans to advance localization and partnership development centered on New York as its North American hub.
Vespexx is a femtech startup pioneering "relational healthcare" — an approach that treats wellness as a shared responsibility between couples. Its flagship app Signaling has reached 670,000 users within two years of launch, with 240,000 MAU and a month-over-month growth rate of 110%. Vespexx secured a 2 billion KRW Pre-A investment from Inlight Ventures in March 2025.
Original Press Release by Vespexx
