South Korean AI research startup Asteromorph, which is developing what it calls “Scientific Superintelligence,” announced on April 22 that it has raised USD 3.6 million (KRW 5 billion) in seed funding.

The round was led by FuturePlay, with participation from Korea Investment Partners and Mirae Asset Venture Investment. Notably, FuturePlay invested USD 2.2 million (KRW 3 billion), marking its largest-ever seed commitment.

Founded in February 2025, Asteromorph is building an AI foundation model called SPACER, designed to autonomously generate original research ideas in biology and chemistry and develop them into scientific hypotheses.

While global tech companies like Google and Japan’s Sakana AI have recently unveiled AI scientist models, these systems are still largely dependent on human intuition for originality and experimental design. Asteromorph’s SPACER sets itself apart by mathematically modeling the generation of scientific ideas, aiming to equip AI with emergent scientific creativity.

The company is led by Minhyung Lee, a 23-year-old founder who began working as a researcher at Seoul National University’s College of Medicine at the age of 16. He skipped both high school and undergraduate education to enter an integrated master’s and PhD program at the university’s College of Pharmacy, before taking a leave of absence to launch Asteromorph.

The core team includes alumni of Seoul Science High School and Seoul National University, as well as winners of international science olympiads. The research staff is composed primarily of talented individuals in their 20s from elite academic and gifted education backgrounds.

Jae-woong Choi, Executive Director at FuturePlay, who led the investment, commented, “Asteromorph is poised to become the first startup in Korea to realize Superintelligence. Even amid global developments in similar technologies, this team stands out for its originality and execution. Given the capital-intensive nature of foundation models, we plan to provide active follow-on support.”

Minhyung Lee added, “Just as Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold predicted more protein structures in a few weeks than humans had uncovered over decades, the realization of Scientific Superintelligence could lead to rapid and transformative breakthroughs in many fields of science. As early as the second half of this year, we expect SPACER to be capable of generating hundreds of new scientific hypotheses each day.”