Matter Machine, an AI-driven materials discovery company spun out of the University of Liverpool, has closed a £4 million Pre-Series A funding round. The oversubscribed round was led by IP Group plc, with participation from Northern Gritstone and the University of Liverpool Enterprise Fund. The investment represents the largest funding secured by a newly formed University of Liverpool spinout and will support expansion of the company's platform and team.
Funding and Investor Backing
Additional investors in the round included Norrsken Evolve, LYVA Labs, and the Northern Universities Venture Fund, which is managed by Parkwalk, IP Group's EIS fund management business. Northern Gritstone also joined the round through its partnership with the University of Liverpool, marking its first investment since that relationship began. The new capital will help Matter Machine grow its technical and commercial team, develop its AI-powered discovery platform, and engage with commercial partners across multiple sectors.
Leadership and Commercial Strategy
Dr. Gordon Sanghera CBE, co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, has joined Matter Machine to lead its commercialization strategy. Sanghera built Oxford Nanopore from inception to a £3.4 billion London Stock Exchange listing and remains an adviser to the company until early 2027. He said that materials innovation underpins progress across energy, manufacturing, and electronics, and he described Matter Machine as combining exceptional scientific expertise with a highly scalable commercial opportunity.
Scientific Foundation and Technology
Matter Machine was founded by Professor Matt Rosseinsky OBE FRS, a professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Liverpool since 1999. Rosseinsky is a Fellow of the Royal Society and received the Royal Society's Royal Medal for Physical Sciences. The company is headquartered at the university's Materials Innovation Factory, an £81 million facility funded by Unilever, and it focuses on inorganic crystalline materials used in batteries and catalysts.
AI-Driven Materials Discovery
The company combines materials chemistry, automated experimentation, and machine learning to accelerate the identification and optimization of novel materials. In 2021, Rosseinsky's group created an AI tool that identified four new materials, including lithium-conducting solid-state compounds relevant to solid-state batteries. Matter Machine also contributes to the AI Materials Hub for Innovation, or AIM-HI, a university program intended to make the Liverpool City Region a center for AI-driven materials research.
Market Context and Competitive Landscape
Matter Machine is entering a field where funding rounds have been considerably larger. Cambridge-based CuspAI has raised US$450 million in Series B funding at a US$2.6 billion valuation, while Periodic Labs closed a US$300 million Seed round. The market for AI-driven materials discovery is projected to grow from US$536.4 million in 2024 to US$5.58 billion by 2034, at a compound annual growth rate of 26.4%.
Investor Perspectives
Greg Smith, Chief Executive of IP Group, said Matter Machine brings together two exceptional forces in British innovation. He cited the University of Liverpool's AI-powered discovery work and Gordon Sanghera's record of building a globally significant deeptech company with Oxford Nanopore. Smith added that Matter Machine exemplifies the kind of ambitious science-led company that IP Group was established to support.
The £4 million Pre-Series A round positions Matter Machine to build its team and begin commercial engagement in a rapidly growing sector. Its challenge will be to secure paying customers before more heavily funded competitors do. With a Royal Medal-winning founder, an experienced deeptech leader in Gordon Sanghera, and backing from university-connected investors, Matter Machine is assembling the foundations needed to compete in AI-enabled materials discovery.