Generative AI is gaining traction in the scientific community, and the latest example is Albert Invent, a startup that has secured a $22.5 million Series A funding round led by Coatue. The company's AI platform, dubbed Albert Breakthrough, is trained on data from past chemical experiments, allowing chemists to analyze molecular-level data when formulating chemicals.

The platform combines structured data with proprietary AI models, enabling chemical companies to develop new products faster and better. According to the company, Albert Breakthrough can generate real-time toxicology predictions for chemicals and outperform standard industry models. This capability has already attracted a range of high-profile customers, including Chemours, Solenis, Keystone Industries, Applied Molecules, Henkel, and Nouryon.

Albert Invent's founders, Nick Talken and Ken Kisner, bring a unique perspective to the field of chemical research. Talken, the CEO and co-founder, previously ran a 3D printing company, which gave him insight into materials science. This expertise was leveraged to train an AI on chemical processes. Kisner, on the other hand, founded Molecule Corp, a global producer of 3D materials for stereolithography, which was sold to Henkel Corporation in 2019.

Talken believes that Albert Breakthrough will bring a level of data analysis to chemical science that has long been available to data scientists. "This is a SaaS product that's being used by the largest chemical companies in the world to reinvent the physical world fundamentally. The biggest problem we face as a society, from sustainability to personalized medical devices — all those are going to be solved through chemistry," he said.

The company's proprietary AI models are built on a foundation of over 15 million chemical structures, which Talken emphasizes is a critical aspect of their approach. "In this industry, you don't want to just take the corpus of data on the internet. You need to take domain-specific knowledge. And so we've taken pretty much the entire public information space around chemistry, around 15 million molecules, built a foundational model, and that's what powers Albert Breakthrough."

While the company occasionally uses foundational models like OpenAI for certain applications, such as chatbots, their core chemistry models are proprietary. This focus on domain-specific knowledge has allowed Albert Invent to develop a unique solution that addresses the specific needs of the chemical research community.

Prior to this Series A round, the startup had raised a small seed round led by Index Ventures in late 2022. The latest funding round also saw participation from TCV, Index Ventures, F-Prime, and Homebrew.

David Schneider, general partner at Coatue, expressed excitement about supporting Albert Invent's mission to transform chemistry research with AI technology. "It is exciting to support Albert as the company seeks to transform how chemistry research is performed by implementing the latest AI technology for greater efficiencies and overall business benefit," he said in a statement.

Johan Landfors, CTO of Nouryon, also commented on the platform's impact, stating that it has become integral to their product development. As Albert Invent continues to grow and develop its platform, it is likely to have a significant impact on the chemical research community, enabling faster and more accurate results that can drive innovation and progress.