Cambridge-based AI startup CuspAI has raised $450 million in Series B funding led by Jeff Bezos and the UK government’s sovereign AI fund, valuing the two-year-old company at $2.6 billion.
CuspAI is building what it calls a “search engine for rare materials” — AI software designed to discover new materials that could reduce the semiconductor industry’s reliance on scarce rare metals like iridium and ruthenium. The company also launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of more than 48 organizations including Nvidia, Meta, and Hyundai.
“If we don’t make progress fast, the next 50 years of industrial progress will be constrained by a single challenge: the world needs materials that don’t yet exist,” said co-founders Dr Chad Edwards and Prof Max Welling.
Kleiner Perkins co-led the round. The company plans to use the funding to expand internationally, opening offices in Singapore and scaling its presence in Cambridge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, and the US. CuspAI has also brought on former Apple and Google executive John Giannandrea to help lead US operations.
CuspAI previously raised a $100 million Series A last year. It is the fourth company backed by the UK government’s sovereign AI fund, which makes typical equity investments of $1.3 million to $13 million in early-stage British AI firms.
