British AI startup CuspAI has secured $450 million in new funding from investors including Jeff Bezos and the UK government to accelerate the discovery of next-generation materials using artificial intelligence.
British artificial intelligence startup CuspAI has raised $450 million (£330 million) in a new funding round backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the UK government, as it looks to transform the way new materials are discovered for industries including semiconductors, energy and advanced manufacturing.
The Cambridge-based company, founded just two years ago, has been valued at $2.6 billion following the Series B investment.
The funding will support international expansion and further development of its AI-powered platform, which aims to dramatically reduce the time needed to identify and develop new materials.
CuspAI describes its technology as a “search engine for rare materials”, using frontier AI models to help scientists discover alternatives to critical materials such as iridium and ruthenium, which are widely used in semiconductor manufacturing and other high-tech applications.
Alongside the funding announcement, the company unveiled the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition bringing together more than 48 technology companies, industrial partners and research organisations.
Members include Nvidia, Meta and Hyundai, with the group aiming to use advanced AI systems to discover materials capable of improving batteries, energy networks, carbon capture technologies and next-generation chips.
CuspAI co-founders Dr Chad Edwards and Professor Max Welling said: “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.
“That’s what we’re on a mission to solve – combining frontier agentic AI with deep domain expertise, exclusive data access and close customer partnerships.”
The company said the new investment will fund expansion into Singapore while growing its teams in Cambridge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo and the United States.
The funding round also marks CuspAI as the fourth recipient of backing from the UK government’s sovereign AI fund, which supports early-stage British AI companies.
While ministers did not disclose the size of their investment, the fund typically invests between £1 million and £10 million in qualifying startups.
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “CuspAI is putting the power of AI to work to help us tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the UK and the world today, such as energy and climate change.”
Jeff Bezos and UK government invest in British startup CuspAI
