Darden Founders Project: Scott Kim, Founder & CEO of Neofect

UVA Darden Podcasts

When Scott Kim (MBA ’11) was undergoing grueling and lengthy rehabilitation after childhood surgery for spina bifida, little did he know that years later he’d be heading Neofect, a med-tech startup that brings game-based physiotherapy to millions of patients worldwide. What launched Kim on an entrepreneurial career path was a class taught by Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy and a serendipitous encounter with a fellow Korean-born Darden student Hoyoung Ban, whose family members had struggled with stroke recovery. Inspired by Sarasvathy, Kim and Ban set out to revolutionize what they saw as an archaic approach to physiotherapy. In 2010, they launched Neofect, which has since raised $17 million in a Korean IPO. Hear how Neofect built a global market for engaging computer games, which combine artificial intelligence and virtual reality to help stroke survivors and people with spinal cord injuries recover.