S. Korean AI Startup Raises KRW 5 Billion for Scientific Research AI

Seoul, South Korea—Asteromorph, a South Korean artificial intelligence research startup, announced on Tuesday that it has raised KRW 5 billion (US$3.51 million) in seed funding.

FuturePlay led the round with KRW 3 billion (approximately US$2.11 million), with Korea Investment Partners and Mirae Asset Venture Investment participating, the company stated in a press release.

Established in February 2025, Asteromorph stated that it is developing a foundation model called SPACER, which the company describes as capable of generating research ideas in biology and chemistry.

Google and Japan's Sakana AI have introduced similar AI research models. 

Asteromorph claims its approach differs because it implements mathematical processes for generating scientific ideas without human intervention in research design.

The company's CEO is Minhyeong Lee, 23, who, at the age of 16, previously worked as a researcher at Seoul National University Medical School and entered the university's pharmaceutical sciences program without completing traditional educational pathways, according to the company.

Asteromorph's team comprises scientists from Seoul Science High School and Seoul National University, some of whom have international olympiad backgrounds.

Johnny JW Choi, Managing Director at FuturePlay, said the startup shows "originality and execution capabilities" in AI.

Lee said the company aims to have its system generating scientific hypotheses by the second half of this year.

"Scientific superintelligence could enable rapid advancement across scientific domains," Lee added, comparing potential progress to protein structure predictions by Google DeepMind's AlphaFold.