$100m investment would make CuspAI Cambridge's richest ever startup
Lila Tretikov, Partner, Head of AI Strategy at Menlo Park-headquartered NEA was appointed as a director at CuspAI earlier this month.
CuspAI told us last week that it would not comment unless there was something concrete to report. The company is shortlisted for glory in several major categories of the upcoming 35th Anniversary Business Weekly Awards.
CuspAI’s vision is to eradicate the forever chemicals planet-wide which potentially cause severe damage to human health. As we have previously reported, CuspAI has developed molecules that are designed to break down man-made chemicals which remain in the environment to the potential detriment of human health.
CuspAI was founded by ex-Google AI researcher Dr Chad Edwards and Machine Learning expert Professor Max Wellings and its novel search engine appears to have stolen a march on big-name global rivals.
Bloomberg first broke the story of the potential windfall from Temasek citing that CuspAI technology could eventually accelerate the development of new, cheap materials for carbon capture and storage, more efficient batteries and powerful semiconductors. It recently signed a deal with Finland company Kemira, a chemicals supplier to the water industry, to target the removal of forever chemicals from water.
CuspAI raised $30 million just months after foundation in 2024, such is the reputation of its founders and the apparently limitless potential of its proposition. Early investors in CuspAI included Hoxton Ventures, Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Sources cited by Bloomberg last week claimed that the latest gigantic funding round will include Temasek and Silicon Valley fund NEA. Temasek, which has more than $300 billion in assets, is the majority owner of Singapore Airways and has backed dozens of fast-growing technology businesses, according to The Telegraph.
NEA’s investing focus on AI spans well over a decade, with a vast portfolio that includes pioneering companies like Databricks, DataRobot and Forethought and emerging leaders such as Modyfi, Orby AI, Perplexity, Rewind, Sana, Uniphore, Weaviate. Companies across NEA’s existing portfolio are applying AI to drive competitive advantage and accelerate growth, from using generative AI to revolutionise workflows or addressing inefficiencies in the $4 trillion healthcare industry.
CuspAI has wooed big name scientific advisers, such as Geoffrey Hinton, the former Google AI researcher oft-called the 'Godfather of AI' along with Meta’s leading AI scientist Yann LeCun. It is believed that CuspAI has an active CleanTech collaboration with Meta’s AI research lab.
A CuspAI spokesperson approached by Business Weekly a few days ago told us: “We're not commenting on the coverage at this time. We'll keep you posted when there's news to announce!” According to multiple sources, that just seems to be a matter of time.
