Technology is constantly evolving - and with it, the potential innovation opportunities in the deep-tech realm also evolve constantly. At pi Ventures, we love to be constantly challenged by this evolution and adapt our investment philosophy accordingly. We are excited to share a blog series with some of the technological trends that fascinate us as deep-tech investors. The first post in this series delves into the exciting world of Advanced Materials
Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. Silicon Age.
Throughout history, material innovations have been so pivotal in advancing human capabilities that entire epochs have been named after the materials that defined them. As we look into the future, it is easy to imagine the transformative potential of, say, a biodegradable plastic replacement, or self-healing buildings made from bio-inspired materials. These are just a glimpse of the possibilities unlocked by advancements in advanced materials science, something that we at pi Ventures are incredibly excited by.
Take any of the key challenges mankind is facing - whether it is climate change, high non-renewable energy dependence, food security or reliance on rare resources, Advanced Materials are our best hope to solve these challenges. While this need for Advanced Materials has been long recognized, till recently, material innovation was hindered by lower technological evolution in the discovery value chain. With advancements in AI, material synthesis techniques and robotics, we are possibly at the cusp of a new era of Advanced Materials discovery and applications.
Materials were originally mined, then they used to be combined but they are now being DESIGNED
Imagine Edison’s frustration when he had to experiment on 6000 materials to identify a high resistance, durable material for the filament in a light bulb. What if he had a tool that could predict ideal materials based on defined properties? This is a real possibility today given the evolution of AI tools for Material Discovery. Other steps of the material innovation process have also been transformed by technology. Advances in computing infrastructure and simulation tools enable high throughput simulations to explore novel materials and validate their properties. Improvements in nanomaterial synthesis, synthetic biology, additive manufacturing and robotics have made testing and eventual fabrication of materials much faster. To complete the circle, we even have a fully autonomous laboratory where robots perform experiments, learn from results and change inorganic formulations to get the desired results!
‘Infrastructure’ for Advanced Materials
We see a future where large companies are built not only by creating new materials for specific uses, but also by developing the foundational technologies that speed up advanced material discovery. We call these technologies ‘Advanced Material Infrastructure’.
AI Led Design
Whether it is polymers, crystalline materials or drugs, AI tools are being developed to design and analyze billions of potential materials customized for specific applications. Needless to say, this approach is far superior to the traditional methods that iterate on known materials and individually test new ones.
This, of course, requires AI models to be specifically designed for each material type (e.g. drugs, polymers, inorganic compounds etc) and companies will need to stand out amongst the tools available for that material type. Notable developments include
- Drugs: Drug development is expensive and has relied on pharmaceutical companies testing vast libraries of millions of compounds against each drug target. These libraries represent only a tiny fraction of the possibilities, with estimates suggesting there are 1042 potential small molecules that could act as drugs. AI based drug design can transform this process by designing novel compounds beyond these libraries and by running simulations on their efficacy. Companies like Exscientia and Benevolent AI, and our own portfolio company ImmunitoAI are working on AI led drug discovery to provide safer and more effective drugs for humanity
- Inorganic Materials: Inorganic materials discovery has attracted interest from tech giants. Deepmind’s GNoME has predicted the stability of a staggering 2.2 million new crystalline materials, and identified 380,000 as potentially stable. This is equivalent to an astonishing 800 years of human experimentation! Microsoft has also developed Mattergen, an engine that generates potential materials that meet specific end-use criteria. The Edisons of tomorrow might just be able to rely more on inspiration than perspiration!
We see a massive opportunity for companies to not only create AI led design tools that target specific material types, but also to develop AI-led tools to reduce the potential number of trials required to design materials with specific desired characteristics.
Improved Synthesis Techniques
Novel material techniques like Synthetic biology and nanotechnology are rapidly transforming what was previously only science-fiction into reality. Microbes engineered to make polymers or digest plastics, circuit-like switching for targeted drug delivery and brain computer interface are all potentially realizable now. The challenge is either low yield, high cost, or low reproducibility - and in some cases, all of these.
The next big investment opportunity in Advanced Materials Infrastructure is improved synthesis techniques. Just like in AI led design, these synthesis techniques need to be focused on specific material classes, by solving for yield, cost and reproducibility.
Companies building in this space will need to solve for scalability and an ability to integrate into their customers manufacturing processes. The latter will help companies mitigate the risk of very long sales cycles that are normally seen in the manufacturing sector. Lastly, companies might also need to innovate on business models to be able to generate recurring revenue from their customers’ continuous use of their technology .
Advanced Materials Applications
Materials surround us, and their impact spans various use-cases. To navigate this diverse landscape, we categorize materials by technology / material type and use-case. The technology classification comprises of
- Synthetic Biology: An interdisciplinary field combining biology, engineering, and computer science to construct new biological parts, devices, and systems, and redesign existing natural biological systems for specific applications. Zero Cow Factory is developing dairy proteins through precision fermentation of synthetically engineered microbes
- Biomaterials: Natural or synthetic substances engineered to interact with biological systems for medical purposes or to inhibit / promote specific biological actions We have come across companies creating mini organs that can be used for drug testing & companies developing novel biomaterial coatings that can increase shelf life of perishable items like meat
- Nanomaterials: Small-scale (typically sub 100nm) materials engineered for specific purposes. At such scale, these materials have properties that differ from bulk materials on account of quantum effects. Theranautilus is harvesting the nano-scale benefits of their nanorobots for targeted therapeutic applications
- Polymers / Composites: Materials derived from either one repeating sub-unit (polymers) or by combining two or more constituents so that the combination produces a material with enhanced mechanical, thermal, or other properties (composites)
- Chemicals: A broad category encompassing other material classes
In broad terms, we are bullish on novel technologies such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology, while being less enthusiastic about more conventional materials like polymers and composites. Below, we outline our assessment of the investment potential across various technology-use-case pairings.
While the heatmap conveys our broad excitement about each material and use-case pair, we will be doing a deep dive into some of the key high-investibility areas highlighted by the heatmap in our next blog post. Stay tuned!