An IIT Madras alumnus, Akash Ramdas, is turning his research background into a business opportunity. His AI startup, Discovered Materials, has raised USD 9 million in seed funding to speed up the discovery of semiconductor materials that could help tackle the growing challenge of heat generated by powerful AI chips, as reported by TechCrunch.
The startup is building AI agents that can help researchers identify promising materials more quickly. By combining AI with computational modelling and laboratory testing, Discovered Materials aims to make the search for new materials less time-consuming and accelerate the journey from scientific research to practical applications.
USING AI TO DISCOVER NEW MATERIALS
Discovered Materials uses Anthropic’s AI models to generate potential materials that could help manage heat in powerful semiconductor chips. These candidates are then evaluated using physics-based models and simulations to identify promising materials for further testing.
The AI agents can explore thousands of potential materials a day, compared with the roughly 20 candidates Akash Ramdas explored daily during his PhD research.
The company has also released hundreds of AI-discovered materials and introduced a benchmark to test how well AI systems can identify promising semiconductor materials.
However, researchers still need to make and test these materials in laboratories to see whether they work and can be manufactured at scale. Laboratory testing remains a major hurdle, with AI-discovered materials yet to see widespread commercial use, TechCrunch reports.
FROM IIT MADRAS TO STANFORD
Ramdas graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2019 with a BTech in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. He subsequently pursued a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University from 2019 to 2021, followed by a PhD in Materials Engineering, which he completed in June 2025.
His doctoral research focused on computational methods for discovering materials for nanoscale electronic devices. He continued working in this area as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford from September 2025 to April 2026, before co-founding Discovered Materials in March 2026.
His research background now forms the foundation of the startup’s effort to accelerate materials discovery and shorten the journey from laboratory research to semiconductor manufacturing.
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