Sky Labs to debut smart ring monitoring blood pressure this year

Image of Cart BP, a smart ring to monitor blood pressure developed by Sky Labs [SKY LABS]

Sky Labs, a medical wearable startup, will roll out its smart ring enabling continuous blood pressure monitoring within this year.

The Health Insurance Review & Assessment approved insurance coverage for the startup’s smart ring device, Cart BP, according to Sky Labs at the company’s press conference held on Thursday in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

This approval enables hospitals and medical clinics to prescribe the device to patients to manage their blood pressure at home.

The insurance fee for Cart BP is set at between 15,000 won ($10.86) and 18,000 won. Patients are expected to pay around 5,000 to 6,000 won per day.

“In the future, if various data accumulates through Cart BP and AI conducts analyses on the data, it is expected that the era of wearable devices for blood pressure management will arrive not only in Korea, but also globally,” said Sky Labs CEO Jack Lee.

The ring uses an advanced photoplethysmography biosensor to measure blood flow, and the data is automatically transmitted to an application for AI to analyze.

It also tracks lifestyle changes related to sleep, stress management, exercise, alcohol consumption and medication responses to help patients control blood pressure and aid in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

The company aims to achieve an accumulated revenue of 70 billion won within the next three years through the release of Cart BP for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets.

The company also has plans to tap into the overseas market. It signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japanese electronics maker Omron in March for global distribution of the smart ring.

“Our plan is to receive a CE mark from the European Union by the fourth quarter of 2024 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by 2025,” Lee said.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]