Materials Zone, the AI cloud-based materials discovery platform disrupting the way materials-based products are developed and manufactured, announced today that it raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from OurCrowd.
“In order to develop new technologies and physical products, companies must first understand the materials that comprise those products, as well as those materials’ properties. Understanding the science of materials has therefore become a driving force behind innovation. However, the data behind materials R&D and production has traditionally been poorly managed, unstructured, and underutilized, often leading to redundant experiments, limited capacity to build on past experience, and an inability to effectively collaborate, which inevitably wastes countless dollars and man-hours,” says Dr. Assaf Anderson, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Materials Zone.
“The process of inventing, improving, and building new products requires first understanding the materials’ fundamental properties and the way they are processed; only then can they be systematically changed to reach the desired effect. Today, for example, to develop a photovoltaic transparent window or a non-flammable, high energy density solid-state battery, tens of thousands of experiments would be necessary to find the core materials’ optimal parameters and to understand how they will orchestrate as a complete device. This process is long, costly and rarely successful. Materials Zone’s platform makes this process faster and cheaper by providing data standardization, process and workflow management tools, which enable the user to apply and use analytical and AI/ML tools to better understand their data and receive real-time guidance, thus achieving better results.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Materials Zone in its effort to provide materials scientists with tools that allow them to improve their product development and manufacturing processes,” says Daniel Aronovitz, Vice President at Insight Partners. “Materials Zone’s ability to provide solutions to multiple real-world problems and challenges in blue ocean fields such as materials informatics and industry 4.0, especially when combined with the quality of its team and its early success, affirmed our excitement to work with Assaf and his team.”
Materials Zone has created an online materials discovery platform that funnels R&D and manufacturing data into an interoperable and structured database, enabling users to achieve meaningful AI/ML insights, reduce R&D research times, and efficiently collaborate with others. The platform is domain-agnostic and can serve customers from different verticals, such as Energy Storage, Renewables, and Nano-Materials, supporting both simple and complex materials architectures. The company already serves paying customers, including a Fortune 100 company.
“Much of innovation’s future depends on breakthroughs in material science,” says OurCrowd CEO, Jon Medved. “Bringing AI to help solve this challenge is essential, and Materials Zone is a pioneer in this exciting field. OurCrowd is proud to be backing this wonderful team building this game changing technology platform.”
“As a materials scientist, I have experienced R&D challenges first-hand, thereby gaining an understanding of how R&D can be improved,” continues Dr. Anderson. “We developed our platform with our years of experience in mind, leveraging innovative AI/ML technologies to create a unique solution for these problems. I am excited to welcome both Insight Partners and OurCrowd to our family; with their guidance and support, I’m confident we will be able to take Materials Zone to the next level. This investment is a boost of confidence to the company and, most importantly, to our incredible team. I would like to thank my team for their daily hard work, dedication, and professionalism.”
“The closing of this investment round is a great milestone for the company and for the team,” says Mark Weissman, a seasoned investor and director at Tidhar Group Ltd., who serves as the company’s chairman of the board. “Materials Zone is now on a clear path to success and uniquely positioned to serve customers hungry for a quality materials discovery solution. I’m confident Materials Zone will grow, expand, and accomplish its goals.”
Materials Zone plans to use the investment funds to hire additional team members, continue improving its product offering and pursue customers from additional verticals, such as Green Construction, Perovskites, Automotive and Semiconductors.