Discovered Materials, a startup developing artificial intelligence agents to discover new materials for semiconductor chips, has raised USD 9 million, or approximately Rs 85 crore, in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed India Partners, according to a media report.
The funding round also saw participation from Y Combinator, Peak XV Partners and angel investors, including Paul Graham, Gokul Rajaram and Anthropic executive Thariq Shihipar.
The fresh capital will help Discovered Materials expand its team and laboratory operations while scaling its artificial intelligence research agents. The startup is developing technology that enables researchers to identify, simulate and test semiconductor manufacturing materials faster.
Discovered Materials has released hundreds of new materials identified by artificial intelligence models. The company has also launched Material Discovery Bench, a benchmark intended to assess artificial intelligence agents against real-world semiconductor materials problems.
The startup is using artificial intelligence to compress months of interdisciplinary research into days. Its technology helps chipmakers improve performance while reducing power consumption and heat generation.
According to the company, its artificial intelligence systems developed new thermal materials within three months that matched the performance of products that took some of the world’s largest chemical companies years to develop.
“New materials are how we close that gap,” cofounder Akash Ramdas said, referring to the widening gap between computing power and energy efficiency.
IIT Madras alumni Advaith Sridhar and Akash Ramdas founded Discovered Materials.
Ramdas holds a doctorate in materials science from Stanford University and has spent 11 years researching materials for semiconductor chips. Sridhar studied artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University and previously worked on artificial intelligence models and agents at Persona AI and Luma Labs.
The company’s agents operate across simulation, synthesis and experimental validation. By combining these capabilities, Discovered Materials aims to help researchers identify promising materials more quickly and advance them towards commercial semiconductor production.
The funding comes as artificial intelligence increasingly expands beyond software applications into areas such as materials science, semiconductor research and industrial technology. For the startup ecosystem, Discovered Materials’ round highlights investor interest in AI companies developing specialised technologies for complex, research-intensive industries rather than solely consumer-facing applications.
Discovered Materials plans to deploy the newly raised capital toward expanding its team and laboratory operations and scaling its artificial intelligence research agents. The startup will continue developing its technology to accelerate materials discovery and help move promising semiconductor materials closer to commercial production.
