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| Kyobo Life Insurance's building in central Seoul / Courtesy of Kyobo Life Insurance |
The move comes as financial authorities pledged earlier this month to allow insurers to expand their businesses into the healthcare sector.
Kyobo said that it has selected five startups and is set to select five more next month to come up with a business model offering healthcare services by the end of this year.
The insurer plans to start with offering services such as one that aids dental care through smart toothbrushes or a service that analyzes and helps improve eating habits through big data-based food recognition functions.
Kyobo will cover program development costs for the selected startups, and provide an open API.
The insurer plans to launch two or three new projects through its healthcare app next year.
In the long-term, Kyobo plans to launch a platform where it offers various healthcare and finance services.
It also plans to incorporate artificial intelligence into processes such as reviewing claims and to launch insurance policies and services based on technology.
"Focusing on innovating the insurance business, we will push forward with the healthcare-based platform business," Kyobo's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Yun Your-hyun said.
"In the mid to long-term, it is our plan to become the leading finance company in digital innovation by 2025, by offering life care services to all of our customers," he said.
Kyobo is the second largest life insurer here by total assets.
