Applied artificial intelligence startup CuspAI today announced that it has raised $30 million in a seed round to build a platform for AI-driven material design that will assist with the rapid discovery and evaluation of new structures.

Based in Amsterdam and Cambridge, CuspAI was founded by Chief AI Officer Professor Max Welling, a former distinguished scientist and vice president at Microsoft Corp.’s Research division and Qualcomm Inc. The co-founder of the company is Chief Executive Dr. Chad Edwards, a chemist with industry experience working in technology commercialization at Google LLC, the chemicals company BASF SE and most recently quantum computing company Quantinuum Ltd. The company is also joined by Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI” for his work on artificial neural networks, who will serve as board adviser.

The funding round was led by Hoxton Ventures with notable participation from Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other investors joining the round included LocalGlobe, Northzone, Touring Capital, Giant Ventures, FJ Labs, Tiferes Ventures and Zero Prime Ventures.

CuspAI intends to use generative AI, deep learning and molecular simulation to derive new materials and streamline the discovery process. Using the platform, designers and materials engineers can examine material structures and select the properties they desire. Welling described the platform as essentially a combination of a “search engine” for materials, not just materials that already exist, but for all potential molecules and materials.

“Our AI can generate and evaluate new materials on demand,” Welling explained. “For example, you can request a material that selectively binds carbon dioxide under specified conditions — the AI then generates, evaluates and optimizes the potential molecular structures that meet those exact criteria. Through careful process optimization and lab testing, we’re able to close the loop and ensure materials are synthesizable, stable and ultimately useful in production.”

The company initially intends to target AI-designed materials that will assist with sustainability problems, beginning with materials for carbon capture and storage. The team believes that these materials could have a significant near-term impact on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The AI revolution is itself creating new challenges, including rapidly increasing energy consumption and carbon emissions from data centers,” Edwards said. “Our technology can help mitigate this impact by designing materials that efficiently capture carbon dioxide.”

It won’t stop there, however, as carbon capture will only be the start. The material class the company has in mind to explore has applications including energy storage for batteries and for gas and water purification. All of these would have a real impact on sustainability goals in the future.

Using the applied AI-driven and deep learning capabilities of CuspAI’s platform materials could be tailored for specific industries. “We are entering the age of ‘precision materials,’” said Edwards.

CuspAI has also entered into a partnership with Meta Platforms Inc., which runs a research project called OpenDAC. The research project is a collaboration between Fundamental AI Research at Meta and Georgia Institute of Technology with the aim to reduce the cost of Direct Air Capture, which involves directly capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This technique is widely believed to be a crucial tool in helping reduce emissions and thus combat climate change but is still some years off from being a practical solution. The discovery of new materials capable of absorbing CO2 and scaling up its processes would be key to creating meaningful impact.

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