CuspAI
CuspAI is a Cambridge, UK-based AI company founded in 2024 that uses synthesis-aware generative AI and molecular simulation to discover new materials, serving enterprise customers in semiconductors, energy, automotive, and chemicals sectors.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersCambridge, United Kingdom
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What CuspAI does
CuspAI is a Cambridge, UK-based AI company founded in 2024 by Dr. Chad Edwards (CEO) and Prof. Max Welling (CTO) that applies synthesis-aware generative AI combined with molecular simulation to discover and design new materials for industrial applications. The company's core product is an AI-powered platform that functions as a specialized search engine for molecular formulas — generating material recipes from specified target properties and compressing discovery timelines from the traditional decade-plus range to a few months. Technology components include proprietary AI foundation models for chemistry, the open-sourced kUPS material simulation toolkit (claimed 49x speedup on certain research tasks), and the Erwin tree-based hierarchical transformer for large-scale physical systems developed with AMLab. CuspAI targets semiconductor, sustainable energy (batteries, hydrogen fuel cells), automotive/mobility, climate/carbon capture, and industrial chemicals/water treatment use cases.
CuspAI operates as an enterprise platform business. Commercial contracts reportedly worth "millions of dollars" are in place with partners including Nvidia, ASML, and Hyundai under multi-year subscription-style arrangements. The company also runs deep co-development engagements — notably with Meta's FAIR unit and Georgia Tech on carbon capture materials (announced March 2025), and a strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor Group signed in November 2025 to develop materials for future mobility solutions. Go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales supported by strategic partnerships, with named customers including ASML (semiconductor equipment), Meta (AI research), Hyundai (mobility), and Kemira (industrial chemicals/water treatment).
CuspAI has raised over $130 million in disclosed funding — a $30 million seed round in June 2024 led by Hoxton Ventures, and a $100 million+ Series A in September 2025 at a $520 million post-money valuation co-led by NEA and Temasek, with participation from Samsung Ventures, Hyundai, Prosus, and NVIDIA's venture arm. A reported $400 million round at a $2.6 billion valuation (Bezos Expeditions and Kleiner Perkins confirmed, term sheet signed as of June 2026) is in progress. The scientific advisory board includes Turing Award winners Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, and in April 2026 Apple's former AI head John Giannandrea joined as a part-time advisor to lead US expansion, including a planned Bay Area office.
CuspAI firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CuspAI
- Legal name
- CuspAI
- Website
- https://cusp.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- CuspAI is a Cambridge, UK-based AI company founded in 2024 that uses synthesis-aware generative AI and molecular simulation to discover new materials, serving enterprise customers in semiconductors, energy, automotive, and chemicals sectors.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CuspAI industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Materials Discovery Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)
Keywords
Where CuspAI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
CuspAI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Enterprise AI Materials Discovery Platform: Revenue generated from commercial contracts with major industrial companies for AI-driven materials discovery services. Contracts worth millions of dollars with partners including Nvidia, ASML, and Hyundai. The company provides specialized AI models to generate and simulate material designs for specific customer applications.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise contracts with major industrial partners |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels1 record
CuspAI product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CuspAI develops and sells an AI-powered materials discovery platform that combines synthesis-aware generative AI with molecular simulation to generate, evaluate, and optimize new material candidates for industrial applications. The platform functions as a specialized search engine for molecular formulas and reduces materials discovery timelines from over a decade to a few months, serving enterprise customers across semiconductors, automotive, climate technology, and chemicals sectors.
Product overview
CuspAI offers a unified AI materials discovery platform that combines generative AI models with molecular simulation capabilities. The core platform serves as an AI-powered 'search engine for molecules,' enabling customers and partners to generate, evaluate, and optimize material candidates for targeted industrial applications. The company has also open-sourced a materials simulation toolkit called kUPS, and partnerships span applications including carbon capture (with Meta's FAIR unit), batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, water filtration (with Kemira), and advanced materials for future mobility (with Hyundai).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CuspAI Materials Discovery Platform
- kUPS Material Simulation Toolkit
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduces materials discovery timeline from over a decade to just a few months
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use CuspAI
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
CuspAI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature4 records
CuspAI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Hyundai Motor GroupcoreStrategic partnership signed in Cambridge, UK to collaborate on developing innovative materials through AI technology. CuspAI's AI-powered materials search engine will be applied to strengthen Hyundai's leadership in sustainable, next-generation mobility by solving materials science challenges that conventional methods cannot address. Goals include improving efficiency, durability, and stability for future mobility products.
- KemiraminorPartnership between CuspAI and Kemira for AI-driven materials innovation. Kemira is a global chemicals company specializing in water-intensive industries. Collaboration aims to develop advanced materials for water treatment and industrial applications.
- Meta (FAIR)corePartnership with Meta's Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) unit and Georgia Tech on carbon capture materials research. CuspAI is developing AI foundation models for chemistry in collaboration with Meta's research team, investigating materials like molecular sponges for carbon absorption.
- Georgia TechminorCollaboration with Georgia Tech researchers on carbon capture materials research, working alongside CuspAI and Meta's FAIR unit to investigate advanced materials for environmental applications.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CuspAI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-owned AI drug discovery company applying deep learning and simulation to molecular design. Highly comparable to CuspAI in using foundation models plus simulation to compress scientific discovery timelines, with overlapping talent pool from DeepMind and a similar enterprise-partnership model.
- Schrödinger: Public computational chemistry and materials simulation company offering physics-based and AI-driven molecular design software used by pharma and industrial customers. Directly comparable to CuspAI in selling AI/simulation tools to accelerate materials and molecule discovery for enterprise R&D teams.
- Citrine Informatics: AI platform for materials and chemicals informatics, helping enterprises accelerate materials development using curated data and machine learning. Closely comparable to CuspAI in serving industrial materials R&D customers with AI-driven discovery and optimization workflows.
Emerging players
- Kebotix: Early-stage AI and robotics company focused on autonomous materials discovery and development. Comparable to CuspAI's synthesis-aware AI approach but with more emphasis on closed-loop lab automation and a narrower commercial footprint.
- Aqemia: AI-driven drug discovery company combining generative AI with physics-based simulation to design novel molecules. Comparable to CuspAI in pairing generative AI with simulation for molecular design, though primarily focused on pharmaceuticals rather than broader materials.
- Materials Zone: AI-powered materials informatics platform for managing and analyzing R&D data across industrial customers. Comparable to CuspAI as an AI platform serving enterprise materials R&D, but more focused on data infrastructure than generative molecule design.
Broad incumbents
- Google DeepMind: Alphabet's AI research lab applying foundation models (e.g., AlphaFold, GNoME) to materials and molecular science. Comparable to CuspAI in building AI for scientific discovery but operates as a broad research organization with significantly larger compute and talent base.
- Microsoft Research AI for Science: Microsoft's AI for Science initiative develops foundation models for scientific domains including chemistry and materials. Comparable to CuspAI in pursuing AI-driven scientific discovery but with broader scope and integration with Microsoft's cloud and compute ecosystem.
- IBM Research AI for Chemistry: IBM's research program applying AI and foundation models to chemistry and materials, including the development of AI assistants for chemistry workflows. Comparable to CuspAI in pursuing AI-driven chemical discovery but as part of IBM's broader R&D portfolio.
Others
- Anthropic / Frontier Model Labs (as AI compute partners): Large AI foundation model labs that supply frontier model capabilities and infrastructure underpinning AI-for-science applications. Indirectly comparable as ecosystem enablers whose models and compute infrastructure CuspAI-style platforms increasingly depend on.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
CuspAI social profiles
Digital presenceCuspAI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CuspAI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
CuspAI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors31 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CuspAI M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CuspAI
What does CuspAI do?
CuspAI develops and sells an AI-powered materials discovery platform that combines synthesis-aware generative AI with molecular simulation to generate, evaluate, and optimize new material candidates for industrial applications. The platform functions as a specialized search engine for molecular formulas and reduces materials discovery timelines from over a decade to a few months, serving enterprise customers across semiconductors, automotive, climate technology, and chemicals sectors.
Is CuspAI a public or private company?
CuspAI is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was CuspAI founded?
CuspAI was founded in 2024. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is CuspAI based?
CuspAI is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does CuspAI make money?
One revenue line is on record: enterprise AI Materials Discovery Platform.
Who are CuspAI's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Isomorphic Labs, Schrödinger and Citrine Informatics. Emerging players are Kebotix, Aqemia and Materials Zone. Broad incumbents are Google DeepMind, Microsoft Research AI for Science and IBM Research AI for Chemistry. Anthropic / Frontier Model Labs (as AI compute partners) is listed as an others.
Does CuspAI have an API?
No public API is recorded for CuspAI.
What industry is CuspAI in?
CuspAI's product category is AI Materials Discovery Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAJAO, AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.