Top AI Materials Startups
AI for Materials Startups — Consolidated Table
| Company | Funding | Focus | Geography | Founded |
|---------|---------|-------|-----------|---------|
| [**Lila Sciences**](https://www.lila.ai) | $550M total / $1.3B valuation | Autonomous AI labs for materials + life sciences + chemistry; "scientific superintelligence"; Nvidia/Flagship Pioneering/ADIA backed | Cambridge, MA | 2023 |
| [**CuspAI**](https://www.cusp.ai) | $130M (Seed + Series A); $200M+ round in talks | "Search engine for materials" — generative AI for semiconductors, batteries, PFAS-filtering | Cambridge, UK | 2024 |
| [**Periodic Labs**](https://periodic.com) | $300M seed (~$1B valuation pre-product) | AI scientists + autonomous robotic labs; founded by ex-OpenAI Liam Fedus + ex-DeepMind Ekin Dogus Cubuk | San Francisco | 2025 |
| [**Orbital Industries**](https://www.orbitalindustries.com/) | $71M total ($50M Series B May 2026 + $21M prior) | LINUS foundation model; sells materials directly (data center cooling, carbon capture); Nvidia/Radical Ventures backed | London + SF | 2022 |
| [**Radical AI**](https://www.radical-ai.com/) | $55M Series A-II (Jul 2025) | Self-driving labs for inorganic materials + alloys; US Air Force hypersonics contract; Gerbrand Ceder is CSO | NYC (Brooklyn Navy Yard) | 2024 |
| [**Mitra Chem**](https://www.mitrachem.com) | $95.6M total (GM-led $60M Series B) | AI-driven LFP cathode materials for EV batteries; ex-Tesla founder Vivas Kumar | Mountain View, CA | 2021 |
| [**XtalPi**](https://en.xtalpi.com) | Public on HKEX | Integrated data-gen + AI flywheel for materials + pharma | Shenzhen + Boston | 2014 |
| [**Fairmat**](https://www.fairmat.tech/) | $29.77M Series B (Apr 2025) | AI-driven carbon-fiber composite recycling; 15 industrial partnerships | Nantes, France | 2020 |
| [**Citrine Informatics**](https://citrine.io) | Established (founded 2013) | ML platform for sustainable materials & chemicals; one of the originals in the space | Redwood City, CA | 2013 |
| **[PhaseTree](https://www.phasetree.ai/)** | $3.24M pre-seed (Mar 2025) | Physics-led platform for batteries, solar, wind | — | 2021 |
| **[NobleAI](https://noble.ai/)** | Undisclosed | Chemicals + materials + energy R&D; physics-informed ML on cloud-based VIP platform | — | — |
| **[Materials Nexus](https://www.matnex.ai/)** | Undisclosed | ML materials discovery; UK-based | UK | — |
| **[Solve](https://www.soci.org/news/2024/7/basf-and-imperial-college-spinout)** | Undisclosed | AI-focused materials discovery; BASF Venture Capital backed | — | London |
| **[Materium Technologies](https://www.materiumtech.com/)** | Undisclosed | Polymer nanocomposites with ML-optimized properties (dielectric, barrier, conformal) | — | — |
| **[Elytra Biomaterials](https://elytra.bio/)** | Undisclosed | ML for bio-derived materials development | — | — |
| **[Deep Principle](https://www.deepprinciple.com/)** | Undisclosed | AI for materials chemistry; founded by Chenru Duan | — | — |
| **[DP Technology](https://www.dp.tech/en)** | Undisclosed | Released DPA-2 large pre-trained MLIP for atomistic simulation | China | — |
| [**Google DeepMind**](https://deepmind.google) | Big tech (Alphabet) | GNoME ("millions of new materials" claim, since criticized) | London + Mountain View | 2010 |
| [**Microsoft AI4Science**](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/microsoft-research-ai4science/) | Big tech | MatterSim, MatterGen, MatterChat | Redmond, WA | 2022 |
| [**Schrödinger**](https://www.schrodinger.com/) | Undisclosed | (more pharma-focused) | — | — |
| [**Atomic Machines**](https://www.atomicmachines.com/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | — |
| [**Kebotix**](https://www.kebotix.com/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | — |
| [**MaterialsZone**](https://www.materials.zone/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | Israel |
| [**Multiscale Technologies**](https://multiscale.ai/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | — |
| [**Osium AI**](https://osium.ai/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | — |
| [**MatNex**](https://www.matnex.ai/) | Undisclosed | AI for material | — | — |
Sources
- [MIT Technology Review (Jan 2026)](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/15/1129210/ai-materials-science-discovery-startups-investment/) — comprehensive overview
- [Fortune (May 2026)](https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/exclusive-orbital-industries-raises-50-million-series-b-funding-round-ai-to-discover-exotic-new-materials/) — Orbital Industries Series B
- [EU-Startups (Sep 2025)](https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/09/british-startup-cuspai-secures-e85-million-to-transform-materials-discovery-with-ai) — CuspAI Series A
- [Net Zero Insights (Aug 2025)](https://netzeroinsights.com/resources/material-discovery-startups/) — sustainability-focused
- [StartUs Insights (Jun 2025)](https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/machine-learning-for-materials-science/) — broader scan
- [WEF (Jun 2025)](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/06/ai-materials-innovation-discovery-to-design/) — Chenru Duan industry overview
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