Key facts
- CuspAI, a British AI startup, secured $450 million in Series B funding.
- The company is valued at $2.6 billion post-funding.
- Investors include Jeff Bezos and the UK government's sovereign AI fund.
- CuspAI aims to accelerate technological breakthroughs by discovering new materials using AI.
- The AI Materials Foundry coalition includes Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Hyundai.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and the UK government have invested in CuspAI, a British artificial intelligence startup valued at $2.6 billion after raising $450 million in Series B funding. The company aims to become a "search engine for rare materials" to accelerate technological advancements.
CuspAI has launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of over 48 tech companies, industrial firms, and research facilities. This initiative will develop AI-powered software to discover and create new materials, potentially reducing research times and the reliance on rare metals like iridium and ruthenium in chip manufacturing.
Participants in the coalition include chipmaker Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and automaker Hyundai. The goal is to leverage advanced AI models to find materials that can enhance energy networks, improve batteries, and advance semiconductor technology, which is crucial for the AI revolution.
CuspAI co-founders Dr. Chad Edwards and Prof. Max Welling emphasized the need for new materials, stating that current known materials could limit future industrial progress. They plan to combine frontier agentic AI with domain expertise, data access, and customer partnerships to solve this challenge.
The new funding will support CuspAI's international expansion, including a new office in Singapore and increased staffing in Cambridge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, and the US. This round follows a $100 million Series A investment last year.
Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm, co-led the funding round. Liz Kendall, the UK's Science and Technology Secretary, highlighted CuspAI's role in addressing global challenges like energy and climate change through AI, contributing to economic growth and environmental protection.
Former Apple and Google executive John Giannandrea is assisting with CuspAI's US operations, and Abhi Talwalkar, a board member at AMD and chair of Lam Research, is also involved with the company.