CuspAI raises $30 million to create a Gen-AI driven search engine for new materials | TechCrunch

The modern method of creating new materials is to make something and then use a computer to determine if the material came out right. But what if you changed that, using AI-driven generative software to design the material in the first place? That’s the premise behind Cambridge, UK-based CuspAI, which has now secured $30 million in a seed round led by Hoxton Ventures.

As co-founder and CEO Chad Edwards said, “We’re turning the old process on its head and saying, ‘Well, if you can put materials or molecules in and get properties out, then why can’t you put properties in and get materials and molecules?’”

The market is dominated by players such as Schrodinger (NASDAQ listed) and Dassault Systemes, both of which offer software tools to perform computational chemistry and material simulations.

Newest on the block is Orbital Materialsm, from part of the team behind Google’s Deepmind, which has an AI-powered platform that can be used to discover materials ranging from batteries to cells that capture carbon dioxide. It recently raised $16 million in a Series A round.

“In the same way that search engines enabled the Internet, we believe we are on the cusp of a world in which you can search the very, very large space of new materials and molecules to discover new materials that have exactly the properties of desired. We think we’re entering the era of “materials on demand,” he said.

Indeed, the company says its platform works like a search engine for materials, enabling the rapid evaluation of a “large number of new structures.”

“Civilization has always defined itself by the materials of that time, that is, the Bronze Age, the Stone Age, etc. We think we are moving into the era of on-demand materials,” he added.

The company launched just this year, and CuspAI seems to have its work cut out for it. However, Edwards isn’t exactly starting over.

Its co-founder is Max Welling, a renowned professor and pioneer in AI. He was also previously Distinguished Scientist and VP at Microsoft Research and Qualcomm, and professor at the University of Amsterdam. “Our artificial intelligence can generate and evaluate new materials on demand. For example, you can search for a material that selectively binds carbon dioxide under certain conditions – the AI ​​then generates, evaluates and optimizes possible molecular structures that meet those exact criteria,” he said in a statement.

Edwards himslef is a chemist who has been involved in the commercialization of deep technology at Google and BASF and most recently the quantum computing leader, Quantinuum.

Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” will also serve as a board advisor.

In a statement, Hinton said: “Humanity will face many challenges in the next decade. Some will be triggered by AI while others can be chosen by AI. I am very impressed with CuspAI and its mission to accelerate the process of designing new materials using AI to curb one of humanity’s most pressing challenges: climate change.

One area where CuspAI thinks AI-designed materials could have a significant near-term impact is carbon capture and storage.

“We’re looking at designing molecular sponges that selectively absorb carbon dioxide from the air,” Edwards said. “When you heat them, they release carbon dioxide, which you can take out and use, or bury underground, whatever you want to do.”

CuspAI has also collaborated with Meta on its open science project to discover new materials to address climate change.

“The Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team looks forward to collaborating with CuspAI in their use of AI, including our OpenDAC work, to accelerate the discovery of new DAC sorbent materials,” Yann Le Cun, VP and Chief Scientist of AI in Meta. said in a statement. “The world needs rapid progress in affordable carbon capture, and we believe the CuspAI team is in an excellent position to apply AI-based materials discovery to this pressing problem.”

Other investors in the round include LocalGlobe, Northzone, Touring Capital, Giant Ventures, FJ Labs, Tiferes Ventures and Zero Prime Ventures. Angel investors, including Mehdi Ghissasi and Dorothy Chou of Deepmind, also participated.