CuspAI raises $450M Series B for AI materials discovery

Kleiner Perkins and NEA co-led the round, with Bezos Expeditions also taking a significant stake. It values the company at about $2.6 billion, roughly five times the $520 million valuation from its September 2025 raise of more than $100 million. AMD Ventures, Lux Capital, Invest-NL and the UK's Sovereign AI Venture Fund also joined, and Temasek returned as an existing backer. The money funds expansion in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, including a new Singapore office. The company also launched the AI Materials Foundry, a network of more than 45 founding partners. Members include Nvidia, Meta, Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and Lam Research. Founded in 2024 by Chad Edwards and Max Welling, CuspAI has raised over $650 million in total. Its targets now include semiconductors and advanced manufacturing as well as clean energy. For AI founders, the round shows investors will pay up for AI applied to physical R&D, not only software. The Foundry also shows a go-to-market approach: tie compute suppliers, chip equipment makers and end customers into the product early. The financing signals confidence, but it does not show that any discovered material has reached commercial production.