CuspAI Raises $450M to Accelerate AI-Driven Materials Discovery

AI startup CuspAI has closed a $450 million Series B and is simultaneously launching the AI Materials Foundry, a global collaboration using artificial intelligence to develop new materials. The round values the company at $2.6 billion. CuspAI says the initiative will dramatically speed up the creation of advanced materials for semiconductors, energy storage, water purification, and carbon capture.

The new AI Materials Foundry unites more than 45 international partners across tech, industry, and research. Participants include NVIDIA, Meta, Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, Henkel, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Lam Research. The network pools AI models, labs, compute, datasets, and scientific expertise to design and test materials faster.

According to CuspAI, the shortage of novel materials is increasingly holding back technological progress. Breakthroughs in chips, batteries, clean energy, and climate tech often depend on materials that don’t yet exist or can’t be produced efficiently.

The company uses so‑called agentic AI—systems that can autonomously run complex research workflows, form hypotheses, and propose new material combinations. By pairing this approach with experimental labs, CuspAI aims to slash the time from scientific discovery to deployable material.

The $450 million round was led by Kleiner Perkins and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Bezos Expeditions, the investment firm of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also participated.

Additional backers include Glade Brook Capital Partners, Lux Capital, AMD Ventures, StepStone, Invest-NL, and the UK’s Sovereign AI Venture Fund. Existing investors—Temasek, Northzone, Prosus, and Basis Set Ventures—re-upped as well.

The raise comes less than a year after a Series A of just over $100 million, putting CuspAI among the fastest-growing players in the “AI for Science” category.

The participation of companies like NVIDIA, Samsung, Applied Materials, and Lam Research in the AI Materials Foundry underscores how strategically vital new materials are for the global chip industry.

For semiconductor makers, novel materials are key to building more powerful, energy-efficient chips. Accelerating materials research could also unlock fresh commercial applications in water treatment, battery tech, and industrial manufacturing.

Kleiner Perkins argues AI can fundamentally change how materials are discovered. Where traditional development can take years or decades, AI can rapidly analyze and prioritize vast combinations.

Alongside the funding, CuspAI announced further international expansion. The company is opening a new office in Singapore and now has teams in Cambridge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, and the United States.

CuspAI is also strengthening its advisory board with prominent tech leaders. Former Apple and Google executive John Giannandrea will support building out U.S. operations, while Abhi Talwalkar, an AMD board member and chair of Lam Research, joins as an advisor.

The announcement signals AI’s shift from a tool for text and images to a technology underpinning core scientific research. Governments and tech giants worldwide are pouring billions into AI for physics, chemistry, and materials science.

If AI can truly accelerate the development of new materials, the impact could be profound across semiconductors, energy, defense, healthcare, and climate tech. That positions CuspAI in a rapidly expanding market where AI doesn’t just build software—it lays the groundwork for the next wave of physical innovation.