If startup funding rounds are any guide, generative AI is gaining widespread acceptance in academia. This is smart: There is plenty of trial and error in research and development, and any tool that may speed up the method for researchers is sure to be useful.
The latest is Albert Inventwhich provides an AI platform trained on data from previous chemical experiments, allowing chemists to question data on the molecular level when formulating chemicals. Its founders previously ran a 3D printing company and decided to make use of this information of materials science to coach an AI for chemical processes. The startup has now secured a $22.5 million Series A funding round led by Coatue.
The company's platform, called Albert Breakthrough, combines structured data with the corporate's proprietary AI models. The hope is that chemical corporations can use the platform to develop latest products faster and higher. The company says the platform can, for instance, produce real-time toxicology predictions for chemicals and “outperform” standard industry models.
Albert Invent's customers include Chemours, Solenis, Keystone Industries, Applied Molecules, Henkel and Nouryon.
Nick Talken, CEO and co-founder of Albert Invent, believes the platform will bring to chemical science what data scientists have had access to for a while. “This is a SaaS product utilized by the world's largest chemical corporations to fundamentally reinvent the physical world. The biggest problem we face as a society, from sustainability to personalized medical devices, all of that’s solved by chemistry,” he said.
Talken says they’ve created their very own basic models, trained on over 15 million chemical structures. “In this industry you don’t just wish to use the info available on the Internet. You need to amass domain-specific knowledge. And so we took just about your complete public information space around chemistry, about 15 million molecules, built a basic model, and that's what drives Albert Breakthrough.”
Asked if the corporate uses basic models like OpenAI, he said the corporate sometimes uses them for a few of its agent networks like chatbots, but its basic chemical models are its own.
His co-founder Ken Kisner previously ran Molecule Corp, which he founded in a chemistry lab housed in a trailer in his backyard. The two built Molecule Corp into a worldwide manufacturer of 3D materials for stereolithography and sold it to Henkel Corporation in May 2019.
And during their time at Henkel, they’ve built a team working on the issue they’re currently addressing. “We essentially founded Albert Invent as a software startup inside this multinational, 145-year-old chemical company after which spun it off right into a separate entity,” Talken said.
Prior to this Series A round, the startup had closed a small seed round led by Index Ventures in late 2022. TCV, Index Ventures, F-Prime and Homebrew also participated within the Series A.
“It is exciting to support Albert as the corporate seeks to rework the best way chemical research is conducted by implementing the most recent AI technology for greater efficiency and overall business value,” said David Schneider, General Partner at Coatue, in an announcement.
Nouryon CTO Johan Landfors said in an announcement that the platform is now an integral a part of its product development.
