6 days ago
Singapore plots $100m move for Cambridge start-up banishing ‘forever chemicals'
Singapore's wealth fund is in talks to invest millions in a Cambridge start-up using artificial intelligence (AI) to help wipe out 'forever chemicals' harmful to human health.
Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment fund, is preparing to take a stake in CuspAI, a British start-up using advanced AI tools to unlock new breakthrough compounds.
These include new molecules that can break down man-made chemicals which linger in the environment and can prove toxic to humans.
Founded only a year ago by former Google AI researcher Chad Edwards and Prof Max Welling, CuspAI is understood to be close to raising $100m (£74m) in fresh capital, making it one of the UK's best-funded AI start-ups.
CuspAI's technology aims to cut down the time needed to discover new materials from many years to a few weeks.
It is developing what has been dubbed a 'search engine for new materials', utilising breakthroughs in AI to speed up the hunt for novel compounds.
This technology could also be used to accelerate the development of new, cheap materials for carbon capture and storage, more efficient batteries and powerful semiconductors.
Silicon Valley giants including Google's DeepMind lab have been exploring using AI algorithms and software to advance the discovery of cutting-edge materials.
CuspAI last month signed a deal with Kemira, a chemicals supplier to the water industry, to target the removal of forever chemicals from water.
The new funding comes a year after CuspAI raised $30m just months after it was set up. It is seen as one of the UK's most-exciting AI prospects.
Its early investors included Hoxton Ventures, which backed Deliveroo and Darktrace, Klarna-backer Atomico, Giant Ventures and Lightspeed.
The latest investment round will see new backers inject fresh funding into CuspAI, including Temasek and Silicon Valley fund NEA, sources said.
Temasek, which has more than $300bn in assets, is the majority owner of Singapore Airways. It has backed dozens of fast-growing technology businesses.
The start-up has also attracted high-profile scientific experts. Geoffrey Hinton, the former Google AI researcher known as the 'Godfather of AI', is among its advisers, as is Meta's top AI scientist Yann LeCun.
The start-up has a deal with Meta's AI research lab to work on uncovering materials that could help tackle climate change by binding with carbon dioxide to remove it from the atmosphere.
A CuspAI spokesman declined to comment. Temasek was contacted for comment.
