“I want to make Oligio not just a treatment device, but a brand that represents K-beauty.” Kim Chang-young, vice president of Wantech, told News1 on Sept. 5 that the company plans to expand the medical aesthetic brand Oligio beyond devices used in hospitals and grow it into a leading K-beauty brand spanning cosmetics and home beauty. The first step is the newly launched lifting medical device Oligio XM. It combines radio frequency (RF) and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in a single device, allowing treatment methods to be tailored to a patient’s skin condition and facial area. Kim said, “What matters is how elegantly and consumer-friendly we can present the technology Wantech has accumulated over many years,” adding, “Oligio XM is a product that strengthens the technology of our existing devices and completely changes the internal algorithms.”
“Two technologies, one device” … Oligio XM targets four skin layers. The biggest feature of Oligio XM is that it allows RF and HIFU technologies, both widely used for skin lifting, to be used in a single device. RF delivers high-frequency energy to skin tissue to generate heat, while HIFU concentrates ultrasound energy at a specific depth beneath the skin. Because the two technologies work at different locations and in different ways, using them together allows a broader range of skin layers to be treated. “Because the device incorporates both RF and HIFU, it can cover four different depths with a single device,” Kim said. “The key is that we designed it to target multiple layers of the face with one device.” Previously, using the two technologies together required separate devices. Wantech has incorporated both into a single device and configured them as one treatment package, taking into account how RF and HIFU should be combined. Treatment speed and patient convenience have also been improved. The device precisely focuses HIFU energy at the desired skin depth while increasing treatment speed, and enhanced cooling during energy delivery improves ease of use. “When consumers undergo a treatment, one of the things they worry about as much as the results is how painful it will be,” Kim said. “We designed it to reduce the burden of treatment.” Oligio XM was developed from the outset with overseas sales in mind. The company plans to expand into Western markets after starting with Japan and other Asian markets. The product is expected to be introduced in Japan soon, while the company is preparing for a U.S. launch targeted for 2027.
Overseas sales account for 77% … Entering 80 countries and stepping up U.S. push. Wantech’s rapidly growing overseas business has provided the foundation for bringing Oligio XM to the global market. Overseas sales accounted for about 77% of Wantech’s total revenue in the first half of this year, up about 7 percentage points from roughly 70% last year. Kim expects the share of overseas sales to approach 80% by year-end as the business expands further in the second half. Wantech products are currently sold in about 80 countries. Thailand is one of its key markets. Kim said Wantech has established a leading position in the local aesthetic market and that Oligio has secured a high market share in the lifting segment. The company’s next major growth market is the United States. Earlier this year, Wantech completely reorganized its U.S. business operations, moved the base of its U.S. subsidiary from Los Angeles to an area near San Francisco and increased its local workforce. “We officially began the business in July, and after reviewing the business in August, we concluded that there was potential,” Kim said. “If this year is the preparation stage for making our push in the U.S., the real start will be early next year.” Kim said competition in South Korea’s medical aesthetic device market has intensified as the number of companies and products has increased. Rather than entering a price war, Wantech has chosen to continuously launch new products to inject vitality into the market. Wantech is also actively investing in recruiting specialists across research and development, design, marketing and global business. “Investing in good people ultimately leads to growth in our products, services and the company as a whole,” Kim said. “I believe we now have most of the team we need in place.”
Expanding from medical devices to ‘home beauty’ … “Oligio will become synonymous with beauty” Wantech plans to expand its overseas business bases beyond the U.S. to Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. It is particularly focused on the growth potential of Brazil, where spending on aesthetic treatments is strong, and the Middle East, where interest in K-beauty is high. “We currently operate in 80 countries, but to take our revenue and business scale to the next level, we need to increase the number of key hubs,” Kim said. “We plan to approach each market gradually while understanding its characteristics.” The company is also expanding the Oligio brand. Until now, Oligio has been a medical aesthetic device brand used in hospitals, but the company plans to expand into cosmetics and home beauty. The idea is to connect the beauty experiences consumers receive, from treatments at hospitals to products used at home, under a single brand. To support this effort, Wantech plans to launch a large-scale brand campaign beginning at the end of the year and introduce a variety of Oligio-related products next year. “The beauty we envision does not stop at treatments received in hospitals,” Kim said. “I want to create beauty within one world called Oligio. Ultimately, our goal is to create the perception that ‘Oligio is synonymous with beauty.’” The company is also expanding its business portfolio from aesthetics into surgical medical devices. The strategy is to combine fast-changing aesthetic medical devices with relatively stable surgical devices to secure both growth and stability. Kim, who previously handled mobile phone marketing at Samsung Electronics, believes his experience in the mobile phone business, which is closely tied to consumers’ daily lives and subject to rapid changes in trends, can be applied to K-beauty and the medical aesthetic device industry. “When I looked at Wantech from the outside, I thought it was a company with strong technology that could grow significantly if it continued to increase its brand value based on that technology,” he said. “When people are asked which medical company represents South Korea, I want Wantech to become a company that naturally comes to mind for the public.”
