Munich-based deeptech company Alqem has completed a pre-seed funding round of eight million euros. UVC Partners and Union Square Ventures are leading the round. The startup, founded earlier this year, is developing an AI platform designed to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of novel high-performance materials.
The technology combines two proprietary data foundations with proprietary laboratory capacity for synthesis and characterization. According to the company, this should reduce the timeframe between scientific prediction and industrial application from decades to years or even months.
As a first step, Alqem is focusing on permanent magnets without rare earths. These are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, and defense systems, among other applications. Approximately 90 percent of the high-performance permanent magnets used today are produced in China. Current export restrictions have put material supply even more in focus.
AI to accelerate material development
According to its own statements, Alqem has already developed a pipeline of promising material candidates and experimentally confirmed their predicted properties. The founding team consists of CEO Hanh Nguyen, CTO Tiago Cerqueira, and CSO Milan Allan. Research partners include Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Technische Universität München (TUM), and the Max Planck Institute Dresden.
Hanh Nguyen, CEO of Alqem, explains:
“We have for the first time created a map of the material universe. Hundreds of millions of possibilities – far more than the few known compounds we can now systematically develop. Materials that could make electric vehicles more efficient, wind turbines more powerful, and critical supply chains independent of production in a single country.”
Amanda Birkenholz, Principal at UVC Partners, adds:
“Alqem is a startup that translates world-class science into a company tackling one of Europe’s strategically most important industrial challenges. Advanced materials are at the heart of the technologies that will shape the next decades – from clean energy to mobility to defense. Alqem has the unique scientific foundation and entrepreneurial drive to become a defining player in this field.”
