[Maekyung Economy] Interview with Jungho Kang, CEO of Minish Technology
“Is it right to cut a healthy tooth to look pretty?”
As a successful dentist in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, during the laminate craze of the late 2000s, the question was always on the mind of Kang Jung-ho. “If I wouldn’t recommend a treatment to my own family, I shouldn’t do it to my patients.” This belief eventually led him to leave the stable path of hospital management and start a medical technology venture, Minish Technology.
The results are impressive. Founded in 2021, the company’s valuation jumped from 50 billion won last year to more than 90 billion won this year, and it has raised 25.9 billion won in cumulative investment. After earning about 10 billion won in sales last year, the company is on a steep growth trajectory, with projections of reaching 20 billion won by the end of this year. His business model, which changed the game from ‘competition’ to ‘creation’ to create a market where there was none, rather than ‘competition’ to take over the existing dental market, is attracting attention.
Would you cover a crumbling stone tower with cement?
Kang’s biggest frustration with existing treatments was the unnecessary removal of healthy teeth, and he focused on the principle of “restoring like the original tooth” to solve this problem.
“When a stone tower, a cultural asset, collapses, you restore it with the original material, not cement. The same goes for teeth: if the outer surface (enamel) is damaged, you restore it with the material that most closely resembles enamel, and if the dentin (dentin) is the problem, you restore it with the material that most closely resembles it.”
This is the essence of the Minish Veneers solution. Based on the theory of biomimicry, we use ultra-precise technology to trim the damaged area and restore the original form and function with a material that most closely resembles the tooth (MinishBlock). This enables full-mouth restoration treatments that used to take three to six months to be completed in just three days, dramatically reducing patient pain.
A unique ‘win-win ecosystem’ bridging technology and clinical
Minish Technology is a healthtech company that supplies tooth restoration solution ‘Minish’ to partner dental clinics (Minish Providers). It presents a new treatment paradigm that covers prevention, restoration, and anti-aging, and develops dental materials, equipment, and IT solutions for optimal treatment.
What makes the company unique is its structure, which keeps technology development and clinical practice closely connected but separate. Dr. Kang is not employed by Minish Dental Hospital, but works as a freelance director who travels to clinics on different days of the week to improve the technology and get patient feedback. As an active doctor, he listens directly to the voices of the clinical field and continues to develop the technology.
The confidence in this win-win model is reflected in its unique shareholder structure. Minish Technology’s investors are not outside organizations, but rather the doctors and staff who directly administer Minish Veneers solutions, and even patients who have been treated.
The partnership is rapidly expanding globally. As of October 2025, there were 75 Minish Providers, including 43 in Korea, 29 in Japan, 1 in the United States, 1 in Canada, and 1 in Vietnam. Recently, Minish Technology acquired MD Innovation, which supports Mochigua operations, to build a Minish ecosystem totaling 111 providers.
Behind this rapid growth is a well-organized education system. Growth is particularly strong in Japan, where the Minish Course, a physician training program launched in April 2022, has graduated 320 graduates to date. Of these, 21% (67) are Japanese dentists. At the end of October, the company will be expanding into the North American market with a training program for local doctors in Orange County, USA.
The challenge is that
Of course, there are many mountains to climb. The biggest challenge is quality control of the rapidly growing number of global “minish providers. With over 100 partner hospitals in Korea and abroad, it’s a challenge to ensure that the same level of precision and service is delivered at the headquarters. A single problem at any one of these locations can undermine the brand’s hard-earned credibility.
Lowering the cost threshold for treatment is also an urgent challenge to democratization. The vision of “universal care” is an empty rallying cry if even the best technology is only available to a select few. The challenge is to convince the market of the value of the technology while making it cost-effective and accessible to more patients.
Nevertheless, Minish Technology is building the future with its accumulated data and technology. The company’s 170,000 cases of clinical data will be the basis for an AI-based prediction system. “If we expand our accumulated data to B2C, patients will be able to preview the expected changes, amount of deletion, and post-treatment images when they input their teeth photos and data,” says Kang, “which will greatly increase their trust and satisfaction with the treatment.”
“Teeth can also be developed into an automated treatment system that combines AI and robotics,” he said, adding, “This will open up various business opportunities utilizing AI.”
The possibility of an initial public offering (IPO) in the future has also been mentioned, but Kang cautions that the company is “not in the stage of preparing to go public with a fixed timeline.” “We’re not looking to go public,” he says. For now, Kang’s strategy is to focus on building on its strengths, advancing its technology, and growing with its partners. It will be interesting to see if his vision can be written off as a paradigm-shifting innovation in the dental market.
Sooho Park is a reporter for Maekyung Economy ([email protected])
