CuspAI, a Cambridge-based artificial intelligence company, has completed a Series B funding round totaling $450m with backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the UK government’s sovereign AI fund. The investment values the two-year-old startup at $2.6bn, making it the fourth company to receive funding from the government’s early-stage AI investment program.
The company has established the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition comprising more than 48 organizations including technology firms, industrial companies, and research institutions. Participants in the coalition include major corporations such as chipmaker Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and automotive manufacturer Hyundai. The initiative focuses on developing artificial intelligence-powered software designed to identify and create new materials for use in semiconductor manufacturing and other industrial applications.
CuspAI’s stated objective centers on reducing research timelines and minimizing or eliminating the reliance on rare metals, including iridium and ruthenium, in chipmaker supply chains. The company’s founders and leadership indicate that existing known materials present constraints on industrial progress, necessitating the discovery of new material compositions. The coalition intends to leverage frontier artificial intelligence—the most advanced general-purpose AI models currently available—to advance materials that could enhance energy network efficiency, improve battery performance, and strengthen semiconductor capabilities.
The funding round will support international expansion efforts, including the establishment of a new office in Singapore and workforce increases across existing locations in Cambridge, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, and the United States. The company has recruited John Giannandrea, a former executive at Apple and Google, to lead its US operations. CuspAI is also collaborating with Abhi Talwalkar, a board member at AMD and chair of Lam Research. This latest investment follows a $100m Series A funding round from the previous year.