CuspAI raises $450M to accelerate AI-driven materials discovery

Cambridge-based CuspAI announced Monday it has closed a $450 million Series B funding round and launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of more than 45 technology and industrial partners working to accelerate materials discovery through artificial intelligence. The financing values the startup at $2.6 billion, a fivefold increase from its $520 million valuation last September.

Kleiner Perkins and NEA led the round, with backing from Bezos Expeditions, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Lux Capital, AMD Ventures, and Britain's Sovereign AI Venture Fund. Existing investors Temasek and Prosus also participated, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the valuation details.

Why it matters

Materials science has historically been a bottleneck for technological progress. Discovering new materials through traditional laboratory methods can take years or decades. CuspAI's AI-first approach aims to compress that timeline by computationally modeling how candidate materials would perform before any physical testing begins. With semiconductors facing supply constraints around rare metals like ruthenium and iridium, the company's work could have immediate commercial implications for an industry already stretched thin.

The AI Materials Foundry coalition

The newly launched AI Materials Foundry brings together organizations including Nvidia, Meta, Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, and Lam Research. These partners will pool computing resources, laboratory access, and scientific expertise on CuspAI's platform. The collaborative structure is designed to share the infrastructure costs and technical challenges of materials discovery across multiple industries.

Co-founder and CEO Chad Edwards told Bloomberg that much of the new capital will fund laboratory operations in Cambridge, Singapore, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Semiconductors will consume 80% of the company's research capacity this year, with particular emphasis on finding alternatives to supply-constrained rare metals in chipmaking processes.

Platform and approach

CuspAI's platform uses AI to model material performance characteristics, filtering vast possibility spaces down to the most promising candidates before laboratory work begins. This computational screening approach aims to reduce both the time and cost associated with traditional materials research, which typically requires extensive trial-and-error experimentation.

Josh Coyne, partner at Kleiner Perkins, framed the opportunity in his statement: "Most big leaps in technology come down to a material, and the next set, from cheaper carbon capture to semiconductors and cleaner water, is stuck waiting on materials nobody has discovered yet."

Leadership and expansion

Chad Edwards founded CuspAI alongside Max Welling, a machine learning researcher based in Amsterdam. The company's advisory board includes AI pioneers Yann LeCun and Geoffrey Hinton. On Monday, CuspAI added Abhi Talwalkar, who serves on AMD's board and chairs Lam Research, to its advisory group. John Giannandrea, formerly of Apple and Google, has joined part-time to establish the company's California operations.

The Series B follows a Series A of more than $100 million raised less than a year ago, also led by NEA and Temasek. CuspAI is opening a Singapore office and expanding teams across the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

Despite its substantial funding and high-profile partnerships, CuspAI has not yet advanced any material to commercial development readiness—a position shared by its main competitors in the AI-driven materials discovery space. These details were first reported by Bloomberg and CNBC.