Periodic Labs, a new artificial intelligence startup, has raised $200 million in funding. This values the company at $1 billion. The startup was founded by Liam Fedus from OpenAI and Ekin Dogus Cubuk from DeepMind.
They want to use AI to find new materials. Fedus helped create ChatGPT when he worked at OpenAI. He is excited to use AI for science.
Many other former OpenAI employees have also started their own companies. Investors are eager to fund these startups and are willing to pay a lot for the talent. AI startups are getting a big share of venture capital funding.
In the second quarter of 2025, 11 AI startups raised over $1 billion. This was more than a third of all the venture capital money for that quarter.
Using AI for new materials
In July, the top fundraising went to xAI, which got $5 billion from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. U.S. startups got more than $17 billion in July. This was 58% of all the venture capital money in the world.
AI startups got 37% of the funding, which was more than healthcare and finance. However, overall funding in July was less than in June. Periodic Labs is using AI to make new materials faster and cheaper.
The company could help speed up innovation in areas like energy and electronics. The high valuation shows that investors think the company has a lot of potential. The funding also shows how AI is being used more in science.
As AI gets better, it can be used for more complex things. Periodic Labs is an example of how AI is helping make new discoveries in different fields of science.