A South Korea-based biotech startup, Galux, founded by Chaok Seok, has raised $29 million (KRW 42 billion) in a Series B round, taking its total funding to $47 million (KRW 68 billion), as it doubles down on AI-driven protein therapeutics design and preclinical progress.
The financing brings together returning backers InterVest, DAYLI Partners and PATHWAY Investment, along with new investors Yuanta Investment, Korea Development Bank (KDB), SL Investment, NCORE Ventures, SneakPeek Investments, Korea Investment & Securities, and Mirae Asset Securities.
What Galux is building?
At the center of Galux’s pitch is GaluxDesign, the company’s AI-driven protein design platform focused on de novo antibody design, a technically demanding area where small improvements in accuracy can translate into major time savings for early discovery work.
Galux says the platform has produced high-affinity antibodies against a range of therapeutic targets, and that an AI-designed antibody structure closely matched a cryo-EM experimental structure, pointing to both precision and generalisability of the approach.
A key detail here is the company’s emphasis on a tight AI + wet-lab loop, using experimental feedback from its internal lab to continuously refine performance. Galux describes this integration as a way to improve the platform’s “precision and reliability” as it moves into tougher biology.
Moving beyond “easier” targets
Galux also indicates it is extending its platform to more difficult target classes, specifically GPCRs and ion channels, two categories that are central to many drugs but often challenging for discovery programs.
Partnerships: domestic co-development, and a global signal
On the business side, Galux says it has established co-development partnerships with domestic pharmaceutical companies including Celltrion and LG Chem, and has also announced a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, positioned as a step in its global growth.
Where the money will go?
Proceeds from the Series B will be used to:
- further enhance the AI platform
- expand R&D infrastructure
- accelerate preclinical validation of proprietary pipelines
This focus, platform upgrades plus preclinical validation, signals that the company is trying to balance two timelines at once: improving the underlying engine while also pushing programs forward toward the kind of data that partners (and future investors) pay attention to.
Galux previously raised $18 million (KRW 21 billion) in a Series A in 2022, which it credits with helping advance its AI platform and R&D capabilities, momentum it says contributed to closing this Series B.
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