"Help us find pig blood" — This woman visited slaughterhouses... With 20 billion won in sales and innovative technology, she stands out.

[For more diverse corporate information on the startups mentioned in this article, please visit 'Data Lab' on the Unicorn Factory big data platform .]

Starting with 10 million won in capital and achieving 20 billion won in sales within five years of founding, Inersia has emerged as a leading representative of the Femtech industry. Its CEO, Kim Hyo-i Kim Hyo-i (CEO), is a highly recognized female chief executive officer (CEO) in the startup sector.

From the story of four women in their 20s with PhDs in quantum physics and medical AI from KAIST coming together to found the company, to the J-curve growth trajectory of the enterprise itself, the entrepreneurial narrative she represents has attracted continuous media coverage due to its compelling nature.

In addition, her growing prominence is bolstered by a string of accolades and titles, including Forbes' "30 Under 30 Leaders," the Korea Academy of Engineering's "Next-Generation Engineering Leader Award," the Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korean Invention Promotion Association's "Korean Women Inventor Award," and the "Korea Consumer Brand Awards."

However, Kim Hyo-i Kim Hyo-i (CEO)'s concerns have deepened. The transition from an early-stage entrepreneur to a mature business leader involves significant philosophical struggles and practical challenges that must be faced.

Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) stated, "We are deeply contemplating the 'vector (direction)' Inersia is currently pursuing." She added, "We constantly ask ourselves whether we are becoming a main player creating new goods and values like the 'rice' or 'steel' that form the foundation of an industry, rather than simply chasing trends as a brand."

Femtech is a portmanteau of "Female" and "Technology," referring to products or services that use advanced technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) to improve women's health and quality of life. Representative examples include infertility treatment technologies and feminine hygiene products.

Inersia first focused on "sanitary pads." In the existing market, while the outer layer was often organic, the inner absorbent core frequently contained microplastics (SAP). Inersia applied its self-developed natural absorbent material, "Labocell" (LABOCELL), to sanitary pads.

Inspired by hemostatic materials used in operating rooms, this technology achieved overwhelming absorption power using only plant-based raw materials without microplastics. Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) emphasized, "Microplastics emit odors when secretions come into contact with them, but Labocell does not absorb liquids; instead, it coagulates blood, so no odor is produced."

The process of commercializing the technology was not smooth. Unlike the sanitary pad industry, which tests absorption using only water, Inersia sought to replicate the viscosity of actual blood. They visited slaughterhouses to directly obtain cow and pig blood, testing over 300 prototypes to refine and advance the technology.

Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) explained, "We paid close attention to the fact that water and real menstrual blood have completely different physical properties." She added, "We concluded that existing methods could not produce truly high-quality products, so we personally went to slaughterhouses to receive fresh blood immediately after slaughter for accurate experiments."

Each prototype test incurred costs ranging from hundreds to thousands of won. To cover these expenses, Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) took on part-time tutoring jobs. She noted, "This experience was a crucial nutrient that helped me grow from a scientist who only conducted academic research in the lab into an entrepreneur connecting technology that solves real-world inconveniences to the market."

Expanding beyond sanitary pads, Inersia is growing into a comprehensive healthcare company by launching health functional foods "Immune Sena & Immune Shot," which simultaneously manage vaginal and intestinal health and immunity, as well as the home care beauty device "Cell Vision," which applies home HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound) technology to aid dermal regeneration.

Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) introduced the products by stating, "Women's health balance can easily be disrupted due to repetitive hormonal changes such as menstruation." She added, "These products were launched to resolve the biggest health concern women face in their daily lives—health balance—using scientific technology."

Inersia holds meetings related to new product development weekly, reviewing dozens of research papers and patents. Kim Hyo-i __NAME_0__ said, "Now, as an applied scientist rather than a pure scientist, we aim to connect good technologies available in the world to the market." She further stated, "We will evolve beyond R&D into a C&D (Connect & Development) company."

Based on additional fundraising, Inersia plans to accelerate its global expansion this year. Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) remarked, "For our country to become wealthy and strong, we must export more." She added, "We are focusing on overseas markets, starting with North America."

She continued, "K-beauty has become a genre in itself." She expressed her ambition: "Rather than being a marketing-based company that simply nibbles away at market share, we want to become a main player that provides good value to customers and improves the overall perception of K-beauty itself."

Inersia has maintained a steep growth trajectory, with sales rising from around 2.5 billion won in its first year of operation in 2022 to 2.5 billion won in 2023, 10 billion won in 2024, and 20 billion won last year. The company has set a sales target of 40 billion won for this year.

Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) stated, "Shortly after entering Amazon, we ranked among the top 5% of new brands." She added, "Currently on Amazon, items are selling out immediately upon listing, creating a 'shortage' phenomenon. We anticipate that this will soon explode globally."

The company has already established its business footprint across all continents, having expanded into Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia), Europe (Germany, Austria), and the Middle East. She said, "Even if short-term profits are low and it is difficult, we must focus on global business and change our company's DNA accordingly."

To prevent its growth rate from slowing down, Inersia recently made a bold decision to enhance organizational efficiency, with recent co-founders willingly relinquishing C-level titles and changing their roles.

Kim Hyo-i Kim (CEO) said, "We aim to establish our identity not merely as a company that earns a lot of money, but as an export enterprise that brings joy to people's daily lives through technology and contributes to the national economy." She added, "We dream of a social change where new companies are inspired by this industry and emerge in its wake."

She further emphasized, "While currently limited to certain fields such as K-beauty, we believe that 'K-Industry' will expand infinitely into all sectors including women's wellness, health functional foods, and inner beauty in the future. We will usher in an era of 'Next K-Industry,' where new goods and values are continuously created based on science and technology."

[MoneyToday startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']