Seoul's Han River at night under a full moon with a rabbit silhouette
PIBU app icon with Tokki the moon rabbit
PIBU
피부 · 皮肤 · 皮膚
The trusted way for the world to get Korean skin care
Verified Seoul dermatology clinics, the price locals pay, trips planned around downtime, and aftercare after you fly home.
Seed round · September 2026 · [Founder name] · [email]
Why now
Foreign patients tripled in two years
0.61M
1.17M
2.01M
2023
2024
2025
62.9%
of 2025 patients came for dermatology: 1.31M people, up 86%
+38.6%
foreign medical card spend in H1 2026, after the VAT refund ended
106
patients per 1,000 visitors in 2025, up from 28 in 2019
Sources: Ministry of Health and Welfare (Apr 2026); KHIDI and Hana Card via Asiae (Aug 2026); Yonhap (Aug 2026)
02
Who travels for it
Young women, and China now leads
84.8%
of foreign patients are women
69.5%
are aged 20 to 39
87.2%
are treated in Seoul
Foreign patients by country, 2025 (growth vs 2024)
China
619k +137.5%
Japan
600k +36%*
Taiwan
186k +122.5%
USA
173k +70.4%
Thailand
58k
Green bars are PIBU's launch markets. Japan is the incumbent's stronghold, so we enter it later. *Derived from the 2024 figure of 441k.
Sources: Ministry of Health and Welfare (Apr 2026); Travel Times (Sep 2026); DailyMediPharm (2025)
03
The problem
Visitors face four problems
Which clinic can I trust?
Gangnam clinics were caught in 2026 using 3,400 foreign patients' IDs to get sedatives.
Money Today, Jul 2026
Am I paying tourist prices?
Broker fees of 30–50% have been reported. The leader added an equal-price policy in 2026.
DailyMedi; Gangnam Unni, Mar 2026
Will I heal before I fly?
45.8% of Japanese skin-care travelers stay just two nights and three days.
SBC survey, n=1,002, 2025
Who helps me back home?
Aftercare at home ties with language as the top worry: 299 of 545 women surveyed.
Crestep via PR TIMES, Aug 2025
Survey sources are Japanese; broker-fee reports date from 2016.
04
The solution
One app from the first question to full recovery
AI skin consult
Six questions and an optional selfie, in four languages
Verified clinics, equal price
Registered for foreign patients, prices audited
A trip built around downtime
Treatments scheduled so you fly home looking well
Booking with a 10% deposit
Interpreter and airport pickup as add-ons
Aftercare in your language
Translated clinic chat, check-ins and photo triage
PIBU app screen: personalized K-Derm planPIBU app screen: downtime-aware trip timelinePIBU app screen: aftercare day 2
Screens from the working prototype
05
How it works
Six steps in one app
Consult screen
1 Consult
Six questions, optional selfie
Plan screen
2 Plan
Fits budget, pain and downtime
Trip screen
3 Trip
Scheduled around recovery
Booking screen
4 Book
10% deposit, equal price
Clinic chat screen in Chinese with Korean translation
5 Chat
Translated both ways
Aftercare screen
6 Aftercare
Check-ins after you fly home
Screens from the working prototype · clinic names and prices are sample data
06
Product
The prototype runs today
Two apps in one build
The traveler app and the clinic partner app, in English, 简体中文, 日本語 and 한국어.
Real AI where it matters
Consults, clinic interpretation and photo checks call Claude inside a Claude viewer. A built-in rule engine runs everywhere else.
Traveler app home screenClinic partner app dashboard
Characters, imagery and the brand film were generated with Higgsfield
07
What makes it different
Three promises in one product
Tokki holding a verified shield
同價
Same price as locals
Every partner signs a same-price pledge. Mystery shoppers audit each quarter, and overcharges are refunded plus 20%.
Tokki with a suitcase and passport
Trips planned around downtime
Lasers early, lifting away from saunas, nothing visible on the flight home. Built from each treatment's recovery data.
Tokki relaxing in a sheet mask
Aftercare after you fly home
Daily check-ins, photo triage and chat with the clinic nurse in your language. Video follow-ups from 2027.
Audit and refund terms are PIBU policy for launch
08
Brand
A name and a character three cultures already know
Character sheet of Tokki, a pearl-white moon rabbit with a celadon neckerchief, shown from four angles with three expressions
PIBU 피부 · 皮肤 · 皮膚
The same word for skin in Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Our first markets can read our name.
Tokki, the moon rabbit
In East Asian folklore a rabbit on the moon pounds the elixir of youth. Tokki is our concierge.
Celadon and the seal
Korean celadon green for calm and trust. A vermilion 同價 seal marks the equal-price promise.
Character and imagery generated with Higgsfield · name subject to trademark clearance
09
The supply side
Clinics get a foreign-patient desk in one app
Partner dashboard with KPIs and patients by countryPartner booking detail with an intake form translated into Korean
Deposit-backed bookings
A 10% deposit on every visit, so no-shows cost the patient, not the clinic.
Intake in Korean before the patient arrives
Allergies and history arrive translated from Chinese, Japanese or Thai.
Demand by country, settlement in one place
Staff interpreters where demand is. Commission always inside the legal cap.
Free to list. PIBU Partners Pro at ₩290,000 a month adds CRM, campaigns and analytics.
Dashboard figures in the screens are demo data
10
Market
A ₩3.3T treatment market inside a ₩12.5T trip economy
Medical travel spend
₩12.5T
$9.3B
Everything foreign medical travelers spent in Korea in 2025
Treatment spend
₩3.3T
$2.4B
Paid to Korean providers by 2.01M foreign patients in 2025
PIBU year-5 GMV
₩0.65T
$480M
About 6% of 2031 treatment spend if it grows 20% a year
Sources: Ministry of Health and Welfare (Apr 2026). USD at ₩1,350. Year-5 figure is a company target.
11
Business model
We earn on every booking, and again after the trip
Stream
Price
Paid by
Booking commission
15% of treatment value (legal cap 30%)
Clinic
Concierge add-ons
Interpreter ₩40k per visit, pickup ₩65k
Traveler
Aftercare commerce
Home-care kits ₩49k, shipped abroad
Traveler
Partners Pro
₩290k per clinic per month
Clinic
Video follow-ups
Share of each consult, from 2027
Clinic
Per trip, model
Treatment value
₩1,500k
Commission at 15%
₩225k
Add-on and kit margin
₩31k
Payments and support
−₩27k
Contribution
₩229k
Target CAC
₩60k
LTV/CAC, 1.6 trips in 24 months
6×
Average treatment spend was ₩1.64M per foreign patient in 2025 (MOHW). Commission cap: registered facilitators, clinics.
12
Go-to-market
Customers arrive through content, messaging and clinics
Creators and shareable plans
Creators on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Instagram and TikTok earn on bookings from their codes. Every plan is a share card.
Target CAC ₩40–80k
Book without installing
A WeChat mini-program, LINE and WhatsApp take the first booking. The app runs the trip and aftercare.
Web first, app for retention
Partners bring patients in
Clinics route their own foreign patients to PIBU for deposits, intake and aftercare. Hotel desks come next.
Near-zero CAC
Launch order: mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, then English-speaking visitors from the US and Southeast Asia. Japan follows once the network is dense.
CAC figures are targets for the creator pilot
13
Evidence of speed
Apps in this category already grow fast
12×
Greater China users at Gangnam Unni within nine months of its October 2025 launch
Company release, Jul 2026
1.7M
monthly users on Creatrip, an inbound travel app now being acquired by Myrealtrip
VentureSquare, Sep 2026
1M
users added by clinic-booking app Ddocdoc in four months, by word of mouth, when access was scarce
Asia Economy, 2020
550k
Japanese users booked through Gangnam Unni in the last 12 months
Company release, Jul 2026
The pattern: an urgent, high-value need, scarce trusted information and dense communities. K‑dermatology travel has all three, and 170,000 new foreign patients arrive every month.
Monthly arrivals: 2.01M foreign patients in 2025 ÷ 12 (MOHW)
14
Competition
We start where incumbents are thinnest
Built for foreign visitors
Korea-first
Listings and tickets
Whole trip and aftercare
PIBU
Gangnam Unni
Yeoshin Ticket
Creatrip, Klook
Brokers
The leader is strongest in Japan
Gangnam Unni made ₩97.9B in 2025 and has 1.6M Japanese users. It opened China and Taiwan in October 2025.
Growth is elsewhere
China grew 137.5%, Taiwan 122.5% and the US 70.4% in 2025. We launch there.
Brokers are the real rival
Opaque fees and no aftercare. Equal prices and a verified network beat them on trust.
Positions are PIBU's assessment. Sources: Gangnam Unni releases (2025–2026); MOHW (Apr 2026)
15
Regulation
The rules favor a registered platform
Rule
What it means
What PIBU does
Medical Service Act §27(3)
Paid referral is banned, except non-resident foreigners via registered facilitators
Registers as a facilitator (₩100M capital and bond); commission on non-residents only
Commission cap, since 2017
30% for clinics, 20% for hospitals, 15% for tertiary hospitals
15% average take, disclosed to patients and clinics
Telemedicine amendment, 2026
Remote pre- and post-care for foreign patients from about May 2027
Video follow-ups with the treating clinic
VAT refund ended, Dec 2025
The 10% refund is gone, yet dermatology spend rose 49.5% in H1 2026
Competes on transparency, not discounts
Safety scrutiny, 2026
Sedative misuse case at Gangnam clinics
Vetting: board-certified doctors, controlled-drug checks, incident log
Sources: Medical Service Act; Seoul City (Mar 2026); MOHW (May 2026); Newsis; Asiae (Aug 2026). Not legal advice.
16
Financial plan
₩140B revenue in year five
3.0
14.1
40.4
81.8
140.1
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
Revenue, ₩ billions
₩B
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
Trips (k)
10
45
120
230
380
GMV
15
70
192
380
646
Revenue
3.0
14.1
40.4
81.8
140.1
EBITDA
−3.2
−5.5
−1.0
9.0
28.0
Model, not results. Year-5 revenue ≈ $104M. Mix: 69% commission, 11% commerce, 11% add-ons, 9% SaaS and telecare.
17
The next 18 months
Prove the loop in Seoul first
Q4 2026
Register as a facilitator. Sign 30 clinics in Sinsa, Gangnam and Myeongdong. Start a Xiaohongshu creator pilot.
Q1 2027
Launch in four languages. First 1,000 trips. Equal-price audits begin.
Q2–Q4 2027
10,000 trips in 2027. Aftercare kits ship abroad. Taiwan and Hong Kong campaigns.
Q1–Q2 2028
120 clinics, 4,000 trips a month, contribution-positive per trip. Raise the Series A.
Tokki mixing an elixir
Done so far: market research, brand, character and a working prototype of both apps. [Clinic LOIs: __] [Waitlist: __]
All milestones are targets
18
Team
The founding team covers four roles
[Name]
Founder & CEO
[Cross-border marketplace or travel background]
[Name]
CTO, AI and product
[Consumer app and LLM product background]
[Name]
Medical director
[Board-certified dermatologist, Seoul]
[Name]
Head of growth, Greater China
[Xiaohongshu and Douyin growth background]
Advisors: [licensed facilitator compliance] · [hospitality partnerships] · [dermatology outcomes research]
Bracketed fields to be completed by the founding team
19
The ask
We are raising a $3.0M seed
$3.0M
Proposed seed · 18 months of runway
Series A proof points: 120 clinics, 4,000 trips a month, contribution-positive per trip.
Use of funds
Product and AI
35%
Growth in launch markets
30%
Clinic network and ops
20%
Compliance and capital
15%
Compliance covers facilitator registration (₩100M capital and bond) and patient-safety insurance.
Round size and allocation are a proposal for the founding team to confirm
20
Brand film: Tokki the moon rabbit floats down from the full moon over Seoul
피부 · 皮肤 · 皮膚
From Seoul to every aesthetic capital
Korea first. Then Bangkok, Tokyo and Istanbul, with aftercare commerce that follows every patient home.
[Founder name] · [email] · Prototype: claude.ai/artifact/HpcSH6DhvY8DV9zdVYLUY8
Appendix · Why this market
Five demand pools, scored
Sector
Key evidence
Demand
Growth
Money
App fit
Speed
Risk
Score
Foreign K-derm travel
2.01M patients (+71.9%), ₩3.3T treatment spend in 2025
4
5
5
5
5
3
4.6
K-beauty brands, cross-border
Cosmetics exports $11.4B (+12%); Q1 2026 +19%
5
4
4
2
3
3
3.6
AI for small businesses
80% use digital tools, 2–3% advanced AI; ₩5.4T support budget
4
4
2
4
3
3
3.4
Services for foreign residents
2.9M residents (5.7%); Hanpass moves ₩440B a month
3
4
3
5
3
2
3.4
Home-based elder care
₩17.68T long-term care spend (+9.3%), 1.24M recipients
5
3
3
3
2
2
3.1
Weights: demand 20, growth 20, money 15, app fit 15, speed 20, risk 10 (5 = lowest risk). Scores are our reading of cited data.
22
Appendix
Key sources
  • Ministry of Health and Welfare, foreign patient statistics for 2025 (Apr 2026)
  • KHIDI and Hana Card, H1 2026 medical spending, via Asiae (Aug 2026)
  • Yonhap, patients per 1,000 arrivals (Aug 2026)
  • Travel Times, foreign patient demographics (Sep 2026)
  • KCTI, 2025 inbound visitor survey (Feb 2026)
  • Yanolja Research, 2026 arrivals forecast (Sep 2026)
  • Crestep via PR TIMES, survey of 545 Japanese women (Aug 2025)
  • SBC, survey of 1,002 Korea beauty travelers (2025)
  • Money Today, sedative misuse case (Jul 2026)
  • Gangnam Unni releases (May 2025; Mar, Apr and Jul 2026)
  • VentureSquare, Myrealtrip and Creatrip share swap (Sep 2026)
  • Asia Economy, Ddocdoc user growth (2020, 2023)
  • Medical Service Act §27 and commission cap rules
  • Seoul City, facilitator registration guidance (Mar 2026)
  • MOHW, foreign-patient telemedicine amendment (May 2026)
  • Newsis and Dealsite, end of the cosmetic VAT refund (2025)
  • MOIS, NHIS, MSS and Hanpass figures for the sector scan (2026)
  • Full list with links in the research report
Figures as of 25 September 2026
23