Berlin-based Dunia Improvements, a deep tech startup specialised in AI-driven supplies discovery, introduced on Wednesday that it has secured $11.5M (roughly €10.6M) in a funding spherical co-led by Elaia and redalpine.
Different backers together with, the EIC, Tempo Ventures, Kindred Capital, Deep Science Ventures, and Anglo American, additionally participated within the spherical.
Bridging the hole between AI insights and real-world purposes
Based by Alexander Hammer, Marcus Tze-Kiat Ng, and Ahmed Ismail, Dunia makes use of superior expertise (AI x Robotics) to hurry up the invention of latest supplies.
Describing the inspiration behind establishing Dunia Improvements to Silicon Canals, Alexander Hammer CEO and co-founder says, “The inspiration behind Dunia Improvements got here from recognising a crucial hole between the potential of AI in scientific discovery and its real-world software.”
“Whereas AI has revolutionised fields like drug discovery, the bottleneck in translating AI-generated insights into tangible supplies was a serious problem. I noticed a chance to bridge this hole by leveraging superior robotics and automation to deliver AI-designed supplies to life,” he continues.
Alexander Hammer additionally states that he was impressed by Dr. Marcus Tze-Kiat Ng, one of many co-founders, who has been obsessed with fixing the local weather problem since he was a teen.
“He as soon as counted what number of timber we’d must plant to repair the planet, solely to understand that planting timber alone wouldn’t be sufficient. From that second on, he grew to become obsessive about the concept of synthetic photosynthesis, a approach to replicate nature’s means of turning CO2 into power,” Hammer shares.
The corporate’s third co-founder Dr. Ahmed Ismail has an expert background within the oil & gasoline business and is dedicated to securing a sustainable future for the following era.
“Collectively, we based Dunia to develop breakthrough applied sciences for a cleaner, extra sustainable future,” he says.
Dunia Innovation simplified
Dunia Improvements makes use of AI and Robotics to hurry up the event of climate-critical applied sciences and goals to decarbonise the chemical business.
Simplifying the corporate’s method, Hammer explains “Think about baking a cake, however as a substitute of manually following a recipe, a machine does all of the work—mixing substances, adjusting the oven, and testing the ultimate product till it’s good. Dunia does one thing related, however as a substitute of muffins, we create new supplies. Our platform makes use of AI and robotics to robotically mix, check, and refine supplies wanted for clear power options, like these utilized in carbon seize or renewable power storage.”
“The important thing distinction is that our physics-informed AI begins with a basis of scientific data, like realizing how sure substances will behave underneath completely different circumstances. It designs the preliminary recipe, runs the experiment, after which iteratively updates the method based mostly on the outcomes—enhancing the end result every time. What would usually take years of trial and error in a conventional lab, we will obtain in a fraction of the time, and at a a lot decrease price,” he says.
Shifting the paradigm of electroactive materials discovery
The principle problem lies in bridging the hole between AI-designed supplies and their sensible software, in accordance with Hammer.
“Rubbish in, rubbish out is a widely known downside in AI. If the info used to coach AI fashions is inaccurate or incomplete, the outputs gained’t be dependable. That is very true in supplies science, the place the hole between digital fashions and bodily outcomes is critical as a result of synthesis bottleneck”.
The answer to this downside is the corporate’s proprietary self-driving labs, which automate the synthesis and testing course of.
This enables researchers to find and validate new supplies at a tempo that was beforehand unattainable, claims Hammer.
By integrating correct, high-quality real-world lab knowledge again into AI fashions, researchers can ensure that the supplies found usually are not solely promising in concept but in addition scalable in apply.
Give attention to electrocatalysts
Dunia’s platform focuses on electrocatalysts for producing inexperienced hydrogen, ammonia, and changing CO2 into superior chemical merchandise.
Consequently, the corporate addresses the crucial bottleneck within the international transition to low-carbon fuels and chemical compounds.
“Many AI-focused rivals cease at producing promising designs, however we go additional by combining AI with robotics to automate the manufacturing and testing of these supplies. Moreover, we deal with electroactive supplies, that are crucial for power purposes, giving us a novel specialisation within the clear power house,” solutions Hammer when requested about Dunia’s USP.
Makes use of instances
In response to Hammer, the power sector which focuses on decarbonisation and the power transition, advantages probably the most from the corporate’s expertise.
“Our breakthroughs in electrocatalysis, carbon seize, and renewable power storage supplies could have a direct affect on sectors like clear power, hydrogen manufacturing, and carbon utilisation applied sciences,” provides Hammer.
Furthermore, industries reliant on superior supplies, similar to electronics and battery manufacturing, can leverage the corporate’s expertise to develop extra environment friendly and sustainable merchandise.
Scaling AI and robotics expertise within the chemical business
In response to Hammer, the important thing to scaling AI and robotics within the chemical business lies within the folks.
“Our early hires are among the many finest of their respective fields, and our management crew has deep expertise in scaling industrial tasks, having efficiently led power tasks value a whole bunch of thousands and thousands. We mix this with industrial experience and strategic partnerships, guaranteeing that our AI-driven improvements don’t simply keep within the lab, however will be scaled as much as meet real-world calls for,” he provides.
The founding crew consists of scientists and engineers with deep experience in chemistry, machine studying, and robotics, and the corporate is backed by angels together with Dr Udo Jung (founder and long-term chief of each the chemical compounds and petrochemicals divisions at BCG), Dr Chris Gibson (CEO and co-founder of Recursion), Prof. Lee Cronin (Regius Chair of Chemistry and CEO of Chemify), and Dr Carlos Haertel (Former Govt at GE and ex-CTO of Climeworks) who will function Chairman of the corporate board.
Over the previous two years, the corporate has validated its expertise in a proof-of-concept on accelerated electrocatalyst ink formulation the place the platform outperformed human researchers in each pace and efficiency.
The investor
Elaia Companions is a European top-tier Enterprise Capital agency that invests in expertise disruptors with international ambition from early stage to development improvement.
Céline Passedouet, Funding Director at Elaia says “We have been first drawn to the Dunia journey by the imaginative and prescient and ambition of the founders and have been satisfied by their capacity to execute shortly whereas retaining a strategic perspective. New supplies discovery requires deep scientific backgrounds for which the Dunia crew is well-positioned with a few years of expertise and printed analysis.”
redalpine is the pan-European enterprise capital agency that empowers Sport Changers.
The VC agency brings collectively monetary funding, operational experience, and an unlimited worldwide community to assist bold entrepreneurs rework their imaginative and prescient right into a actuality.
Michael Sidler, Founding Accomplice at redalpine, says, “With humanity’s fast-growing want for energy and the reliance on petrochemicals, the invention of novel methods to create sustainable fuels and chemical compounds has change into essential. We’d like radical disruption to the present R&D processes to create novel catalyzing brokers for the environment friendly synthesis of such fuels. Dunia’s AI-driven lab method is the inspiration of the invention of those world-changing catalysts.”
