Bayer (CEO: Werner Baurmann) said Tuesday it selected four startups, including Sky Labs from Korea, as winners for its “2017 Grants4Apps Accelerator” program to foster healthcare innovation.

Sky Labs is the second Korean start-up selected as a winner in the challenge that received more than 450 digital health-related applications from 61 countries this year, the company said.

Bayer chose the winners mainly on the potential for future collaboration by a large cross-functional jury within the enterprise, it added.

The Korean startup has been developing a ring-type device called Cardio Tracker (CART) for accurate diagnosis and customized management of atrial fibrillation (AF).

AF is a chronic disease that affects 25 percent of people in their 40s and older, which could lead to a stroke resulting in death in half of the patients.

“We are very pleased to be selected as one of the winners of the Bayer’s global Grants4Apps Accelerator 2017 program,” said Sky Labs CEO Lee Byung-hwan. “Since Bayer is a global leader in cardiovascular disease treatments, we expect this opportunity to help us develop our AF diagnosis device to promote early detection and improve the treatment rate locally and abroad.”

Bayer will provide financial and mentor support to the four startups – with the other two from the U.K. and one from the U.S. -- to develop their business concepts and strategies for innovative software, hardware, and technology, the company said.

“We recognize the immense creative potential outside of Bayer, and we believe that combining expertise is key to innovation and success,” said a Bayer official, Reinhard Franzen. “The Grants4Apps Accelerator has been dynamically developed in the past years, identifying new partnership opportunities in the digital health area.”