Korea's Ybrain electroceutical startup restarts its stalled KOSDAQ IPO

By Inside BCI · June 28, 2026

Korean patients with major depressive disorder can be prescribed a wearable transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) headband for at-home use through more than 150 psychiatric clinics, including at least 15 tertiary hospitals nationwide. The device is MINDD STIM (the current generation is branded MINDD STIM+ on Ybrain’s English corporate site), made by the Seongnam-headquartered medical technology company Ybrain. The product received Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) Class 3 marketing approval in April 2021 as Korea’s first at-home tDCS treatment for major depressive disorder cleared under the MFDS Class 3 medical-device regime, with a 62.8 per cent remission rate reported in the confirmatory trial that supported approval. Cumulative prescriptions and measurements across the three product lines in Ybrain’s MINDD platform passed 1.4 million by March 2026 per the Korean Electronic Times, with Ybrain’s broader solution suite deployed across 767 hospitals and clinics or roughly 35 per cent of the Korean psychiatric-clinic market. Ybrain has now restarted its long-stalled KOSDAQ initial public offering on the back of that commercial footprint, with NH Investment & Securities named as lead bookrunner, a tech-evaluation application targeted within 2026, and a listing expected in early 2027, per a 15 July 2025 Money Today Network (MTN) scoop and follow-on Korean business press coverage including a 28 June 2026 Chosunbiz piece. The company’s largest shareholder is Ceragem, the privately-held Korean wellness-device maker best known internationally for its thermal massage chairs, which has built up an approximately 41 per cent stake through roughly KRW 27.4 billion in cumulative investment since 2022.

Ybrain was founded in February 2013 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do (the Pangyo tech corridor south of Seoul) by Kiwon Lee, a Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) PhD who remains the company’s chief executive. The company is registered as Ybrain, INC. in English (와이브레인 in Korean).

Why the 2022 attempt was postponed and what changed

Ybrain entered the KOSDAQ technology-special-listing track in 2022, passed the technical evaluation (with A grades from both designated assessors, Ecredible and SCI Evaluation Information, per Marketin/edaily), and then postponed the actual listing as capital-markets conditions for Korean small-cap medical-device issuers deteriorated through 2022 and 2023. The earlier capital structure was anchored by Neopect, which at the time of the 2022 attempt held approximately 43.74 per cent of Ybrain. Subsequent operating losses at Neopect reduced its ability to support Ybrain’s listing-readiness, and the company has since renamed itself Dynamic Solution as of April 2026. A late-2024 follow-on round from Ceragem (approximately 2.55 million Ybrain shares purchased at KRW 9,200 per share) re-balanced the cap table, with Ceragem’s holding rising to approximately 41 per cent and Neopect/Dynamic Solution’s diluted to 8.83 per cent. Ybrain’s own corporate site lists a Pre-IPO round in February 2022 of KRW 11 billion, bringing cumulative capital raised through that point to approximately KRW 33.6 billion.

What MINDD STIM does, and the rest of the Ybrain product line

MINDD STIM is a wearable transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) device positioned for at-home use under physician prescription. tDCS delivers a low-intensity direct electrical current through scalp electrodes that modulates the resting membrane potential of cortical neurons. For depression specifically, the established protocol targets the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, on the basis that increased excitability in that region correlates with reduced depressive symptoms in the published clinical literature. The Ybrain confirmatory clinical trial that supported the MFDS Class 3 marketing approval in April 2021 reported the 62.8 per cent remission rate.

The product portfolio beyond MINDD STIM includes MINDD SCAN (a 19-channel dry-electrode EEG measurement device for clinical assessment), DOOPANG (an MFDS-approved migraine TENS device sold to consumers), POLA (a consumer stress-relief and sleep-aid TENS device sold through Ybrain’s direct-to-consumer channel), and the MINDD platform (an online mental-health scale delivery and prescription-management system used by participating clinics). Ybrain pursues clinical trials in additional indications including mild cognitive impairment, mild dementia, schizophrenia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, addiction, sleep, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease per the company’s published pipeline. US Food and Drug Administration clearance for MINDD STIM is described on the corporate site as an ongoing pursuit, not a completed milestone.

The Ceragem backing and the Mind Fit collaboration

Ceragem (세라젬), founded in 1998 by Lee Whan-seong and headquartered in Cheonan, South Korea, is the privately-held parent behind a global home-wellness device business best known for its thermal heated massage chairs and beds. Korean primary sources differ on Ceragem’s recent financial performance (Marketin/edaily in November 2025 reported FY2024 revenue of approximately KRW 354 billion with an operating loss in the tens of billions of won; a separate April 2026 Seoul Economic Daily report cited KRW 549.8 billion in revenue and KRW 25.8 billion in operating profit), so the specific figures are pending reconciliation. The 28 June 2026 Chosunbiz piece additionally reports that Ceragem itself is targeting a 2028 KOSDAQ IPO, a claim that has not been independently corroborated against a second primary source in this article.

Ceragem’s investment in Ybrain began in 2022 with a KRW 4 billion injection at approximately 10.16 per cent of the company. A late-2024 follow-on round added approximately 2.55 million Ybrain shares at KRW 9,200 per share, raising cumulative Ceragem capital deployed into Ybrain to approximately KRW 27.4 billion and lifting the holding to approximately 41 per cent. Ybrain and Ceragem have co-developed a joint product branded Mind Fit (마인드 핏), positioned for home depression-care, which Ceragem treats as the first material commercial synergy from the equity tie-up. The Ceragem-Ybrain relationship therefore now spans equity (approximately 41 per cent stake), product (Mind Fit), and the prospect of sequential KOSDAQ listings if both companies’ announced timetables hold.

Where Ybrain sits in Korea’s Industrial Builder posture

Ybrain is the sole industry-side BCI partner in the Korean government’s K-Moonshot brain-machine convergence research moonshot, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Science and ICT on 11 March 2026 per the Korean Electronic Times. The K-Moonshot brain-machine mission is one of twelve missions launched on the same date under the broader K-Moonshot framework, with the Ministry of Science and ICT as the lead administering ministry. The 44th meeting of the Bio-engineering Comprehensive Policy Deliberation Committee was held at Ybrain’s Seongnam headquarters on 18 March 2026, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon, with the Brain Future Industry National R&D Strategy on the agenda.

Inside BCI’s four-jurisdiction posture map (Rights-First Chile, Horizontal Regulator EU, State-Patchwork US, Industrial Builder China and South Korea) names China and South Korea together as Industrial Builder jurisdictions. Ybrain’s IPO revival is the first publicly identified Korean BCI/electroceutical company to take the Industrial Builder posture from policy framework into the capital-markets execution layer, paralleling the Neuracle Technology STAR Market IPO prospectus filing in Shanghai on 11 June 2026 that Inside BCI has covered separately. The combined Korean institutional cadence over the past four months (KAIST Brain-to-Robot bidirectional platform announced 25 June 2026, Korean BCI Association launched 16 June 2026 with Baek Nam-jong as chair, K-Moonshot brain-machine mission launched 11 March 2026, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41 international-standards leadership chaired by Kim Yong-jin) now positions a single Korean BCI/electroceutical company at the front of the listing track.

What to watch

Ybrain’s KOSDAQ technical-evaluation filing within 2026 is the next dated regulatory milestone. The Korea Exchange (KRX) tech-special listing track requires passing a technology evaluation by two designated assessors before the company can file the preliminary prospectus and substantive review begins. The 2022 attempt cleared the technical evaluation but stalled before listing, so passing the same gate a second time is the procedural minimum.

Ceragem’s own targeted 2028 KOSDAQ IPO, as reported by Chosunbiz on 28 June 2026 and pending independent corroboration, would create a parent-subsidiary listing dynamic. Ceragem holding approximately 41 per cent of a pre-listing Ybrain, then listing itself within roughly twelve months, will require Korean disclosure of the Ybrain cross-holding as a material related-party asset in Ceragem’s own prospectus.

US Food and Drug Administration clearance for MINDD STIM is described on the Ybrain corporate site as an ongoing pursuit, without a specific 510(k) or De Novo pathway named publicly. A US clearance would shift Ybrain from a Korean-market depression-tDCS company to a candidate global commercial play, materially affecting the IPO valuation.

The Mind Fit consumer product line, co-developed by Ybrain and Ceragem and positioned for home depression-care, is the most concrete revenue-synergy lever between the two companies. Ceragem operates a global distribution network through company-owned showroom retail and wellness-spa partners. If Mind Fit moves through that distribution channel rather than through the existing Ybrain hospital channel, the IPO narrative shifts from medical-device to consumer-wellness with a regulated-device wrapper, with associated valuation-multiple consequences.

Sources

market South-Korea Ybrain KOSDAQ Ceragem NH-Investment-Securities MINDD-STIM electroceutical K-Moonshot Industrial-Builder-posture

Why the 2022 attempt was postponed and what changed

What MINDD STIM does, and the rest of the Ybrain product line

The Ceragem backing and the Mind Fit collaboration

Where Ybrain sits in Korea’s Industrial Builder posture

What to watch

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