AI materials discovery startup CuspAI has raised a $450m Series B round, as investors continue to back European companies applying the technology to scientific research.
Founded in 2024 by Chad Edwards and Max Welling, the Cambridge-based company is building an AI platform designed to discover entirely new materials for applications ranging from semiconductors and clean energy to advanced manufacturing.
The round was led by Kleiner Perkins and NEA, with participation from Jeff Bezos's family office Bezos Expeditions. It values the company at $2.6bn. New investors include Glade Brook Capital Partners, Lux Capital, AMD Ventures, Britain's Sovereign AI Venture Fund, the Netherlands' Invest-NL and venture capitalist John Doerr.
The raise confirms reporting by the Financial Times earlier this year that CuspAI was in talks to raise funding at a $2.6bn valuation — more than quadrupling its valuation since its $100m funding round in September last year.
Announcing the round on Monday, CuspAI said it would use the capital to expand operations across the US, Europe and Asia.
Alongside the funding, CuspAI unveiled its AI Materials Foundry, a network bringing together compute providers, laboratories, proprietary data and scientific expertise to accelerate materials discovery.
More than 45 organisations have joined as founding members, including Nvidia, which will provide compute infrastructure, Meta's Fundamental AI Research team, Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, Hitachi High-Tech and Merck. CuspAI's proprietary AI platform, MIRA, will coordinate the end-to-end discovery process, from designing candidate materials to simulation and experimental validation.
"If we don't make progress fast, the next 50 years of industrial progress will be constrained by a single challenge: the world needs materials that don't yet exist," said CEO and cofounder Chad Edwards.
CuspAI topped Sifted's AI 100 ranking last year, recognising the most promising European AI startups valued below $1bn. Its existing investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, NEA and Temasek, while its board includes AI pioneer Yann LeCun and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton.
