[Kyung Hee University's Campus Town Startups 2025] BASIA, a Company Developing a Smart Healthcare Platform that Combines Exercise Equipment, Content, and Digital Technology

Suhee Ryu, CEO of BASIA Co., Ltd.

Fitness veterans and healthcare professionals create BASIA's exercise content
BASIA offers health programs and exercise tools for kids to seniors

"We are currently expanding our content scope to cover the entire life cycle, including menopause and senior women. Based on our activities in developing healthcare content and providing social services, especially for seniors, we have been designated as a preliminary social enterprise in 2024. Through these efforts, we are further clarifying the identity of our business in order to pursue both public and social value."

BASIA is a startup that develops and provides healthcare content and products for women at different stages of their life cycle. It was founded in March 2019 by CEO Suhee Ryu (48), a fitness expert with 30 years of experience and a doctor of physical education.

"BASIA provides health programs and exercise tools for children to seniors to companies, hotels, and local institutions in Korea,"said CEO Ryu. "We have also launched online services for healthcare content and packages for women during pregnancy and childbirth."

BASIA content consists of programs developed and produced by master's and doctoral-level exercise experts with more than 20 years of experience. "We have the expertise to continuously develop content that is targeted and contextualized,"CEO Ryu said. "Our programs are designed with exercises that have real, tangible results for each stage of the life cycle, from mothers to seniors, ensuring high reliability."

"We're also trying to change the way we deliver content. We're using NFC-based smart exercise tools to help us evolve. Without installing an app or logging in, users only need to tag the exercise tool once and it will automatically launch exercise content suitable for their age and stage. It's designed for easy use, even for seniors over 50 who aren't familiar with using digital devices. It's a great way for anyone to start and continue an exercise routine without feeling pressured."

"BASIA doesn't just provide one-time content alone, but also helps users naturally form exercise habits through a structure that connects exercise equipment, content, and exercise records,"said CEO Ryu. "With an O2O system that connects online and offline, we help public health centers and fitness spaces to utilize the same content repeatedly."

"We are planning to build a system that connects exercise content based on age and level. This will allow users to easily and intuitively access exercise content and link their personalized records. BASIA is evolving from a content-centered service to a smart healthcare platform that combines exercise equipment, content, and digital technology."

Based on a multi-channel sales strategy that spans B2G, B2B, and B2C, BASIA is spreading its products and content.

"We are operating healthy exercise classes for pregnant women and seniors in collaboration with Public Health Centers at Dongdaemun-gu and Seocho-gu in Seoul. The partnership with public health centers will be expanded nationwide. We are also expanding our B2B model by providing offline exercise content to corporate customers such as Hotel Shilla, Samsung VANTT, and Samsung Leports. In addition to our own platform, we sell products and content through online stores such as Smart Store and Coupang. We are continuing our content marketing efforts by utilizing online classes, YouTube shorts, and social media channels to expand our contact points with consumers."

"We are also actively expanding overseas, and last year we signed an export agreement for our online course platform and content in Taiwan,"said CEO Ryu. "Our global reach is expanding so that overseas users can access BASIA's exercise content for pregnant women. In collaboration with the Pilates Education Association in Vietnam, we are exporting our content and products by training local leaders. With a distribution strategy that spans public, private, and overseas, we are building a recurring and sustainable supply structure."

"In the short term, BASIA will commercialize a content system that works with NFC-based smart exercise equipment,"CEO Ryu said about his plans. "We will build a pilot and demonstration model centered on public health centers, hospitals, and hotels in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions."

Founded: March 2019
Key business areas: Development and sales of sports equipment and content
Achievements: Selected for the Sports Accelerator Program in 2021. Selected for Untact Startup support in 2022. Selected for the Startup Leap Package in 2023. Selected for the Social Enterprise Certification Childcare Project in 2024 . Designated as a preliminary Social Enterprise by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Signed a contract with an online lecture platform in Taiwan to export content. Operating a yoga class for pregnant women at the Dongdaemun-gu Public Health Center. Providing online health services to the National Health Insurance Service in the regions including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungbuk. Providing health services to the 50 Plus Center and Senior Center of Seocho-gu and Geumcheon-gu. Providing fitness health services to Hotel Shilla and Samsung Group.

reporter jinho lee
jinho2323@hankyung.com