Accelerating AI-Powered Materials Discovery: CuspAI Secures €85M+

Material discovery and development are key factors influencing industries nowadays. From semiconductors to clean energy solutions – it’s all about the materials. The constant chase for materials became a worldwide problem.

That’s why today we’re going to discuss an interesting and technologically advanced startup that revolutionizes the way materials are developed and discovered. British startup CuspAI, based in Cambridge, has recently raised more than €85 million in a Series A round. The idea of raising such a sum is to transform how we discover and develop new materials. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Temasek led the funding. The startup is also backed by NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Samsung Ventures, Hyundai Motor Group, and other global investors.

Behind the project

Founded in 2024, the startup combines AI with advanced molecular and physics-based simulations. So, what does the platform do, you might ask? Well, the platform allows customers to understand what material they need and create synthetic candidates up to 10 times faster. However, we compare it with the traditional material discovery, which takes up to decades sometimes.

Moreover, CEO Chad Edwards says that it’s all about materials today – energy, climate solutions and technology. With this new funding, CuspAI plans to scale its platform and deliver transformative solutions across industries.

Driving Global Partnerships and Innovation

In just one year, CuspAI has built commercial partnerships with such leading companies as Hyunday for energy, Kemira on PFAS removal, and Meta on carbon capture. Together, they developed ODAC25, the world’s largest direct air capture database.

The company has also attracted leading advisors from science and industry for the project. Moreover, AI pioneers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun have also joined the startup. Consequently, with such companies attracted and experts, CuspAI has all the chances to become a global company that meet the rising demand worldwide.

Lila Tretikov, Partner at NEA and former Deputy CTO at Microsoft, highlighted: “CuspAI is breaking long-accepted engineering limits and enabling breakthroughs that can elevate quality of life for generations to come.”

At IGF, we’re glad to see startups like CuspAI that combine bold vision with groundbreaking technology. They showed us that investments and innovations can create bright ideas and solutions. Contact us today to bring your idea to life.