Daejeon center, Nova Ventures launch space fund with first bet on lunar base robotics
What's the deal? The Daejeon Center for Creative Economy and Innovation has partnered with space-specialised accelerator Nova VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to launch the Daejeon-Nova Space Tech Fund No. 1 and made its first investment. The fund executed a seed investment in Base & Power City, a startup developing lunar exploration and construction robotics with Hyundai Motor GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? The fund was set up to find and grow early-stage space technology startups. A public accelerator and a space-specialised accelerator will run it jointly: Daejeon appointed partner Kim Seong-tae as lead fund manager, while Nova Ventures named chief executive officer Park Ji-young to the same role. Both plan to back companies across follow-on investment, TIPS linkages, global pilots, and overseas expansion.
Who is the first bet? Founded in 2021, Base & Power City is co-developing lunar exploration and construction robotics infrastructure with Hyundai Motor Group. It has filed seven lunar-exploration patents with Hyundai Motor and KiaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in Korea, the US, and Germany, one of which is registered in the US.
Its flagship product, the VOLT-9 lunar rover, uses a biomimetic scale structure to withstand cosmic radiation, extreme temperatures, and regolith. The roadmap runs from rovers and small exploration robots to underground tunnel-boring modules, infrastructure-expansion robots, and quantum-computing-based multi-agent robots.
Why now? Nova Ventures cited the expanding Artemis mission and private lunar projects as reasons the lunar infrastructure market could grow. In 2026, Base & Power City was the only Korean startup among seven global companies selected for the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) programme on space resource utilisation.
What they said: "Space infrastructure is a field with great growth potential," said Park Dae-hee, head of the Daejeon center, adding that the plan is to raise "space deep-tech companies with global competitiveness" through full-cycle support.
The signal: Public accelerators pairing with sector specialists to seed deep-tech is becoming a common route to fund capital-heavy frontier bets. For Korea, a fund built around lunar infrastructure signals ambition to secure an early foothold as the Artemis era opens the moon to commercial builders.
Read more: Venture Square
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