- Matter Machine has raised £4m in a pre-Series A funding round led by IP Group.
- Northern Gritstone also backed the company, which commercialises research by University of Liverpool professor Matt Rosseinsky.
- Sanghera plans to pursue industry partnerships and seek further investment to scale the business.
Gordon Sanghera, the former chief executive of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, is leading a new artificial intelligence (AI) start-up that has raised £4 million to accelerate the discovery of new materials.
Matter Machine, spun out of the University of Liverpool, has closed a pre-Series A funding round led by IP Group, the FTSE 250 investment company, with support from Northern Gritstone, which backs technology businesses emerging from universities in the north of England.
The company aims to commercialise research by Professor Matt Rosseinsky, using AI-powered tools to identify and optimise novel materials. Its technology is intended to reduce the time and cost involved in developing materials for industries including energy, manufacturing and electronics.
Sanghera led Oxford Nanopore from its founding in 2005 through its £3.4 billion stock market flotation in 2021. He stepped down as chief executive after more than two decades at the company and will now lead Matter Machine as it moves towards commercialising its research.
How will Matter Machine use AI?
The start-up plans to combine advanced materials science with AI to speed up the search for materials with specific properties. Discovering and optimising new materials can be a lengthy process, with potential applications ranging from more efficient energy technologies to improved electronic components and manufacturing processes.
Matter Machine is based at the Materials Innovation Factory in Liverpool, a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and consumer goods group Unilever.
Rosseinsky, the company's chief scientific adviser, said: “The combination of advanced materials science and artificial intelligence creates a powerful opportunity to transform how new materials are discovered.”
The company's commercial progress will depend on turning its research into solutions that industrial partners can use, as well as demonstrating that its approach can deliver meaningful improvements in development time and cost.
What comes next for the AI startup?
Sanghera plans to pursue partnerships with industry and raise further funds as Matter Machine develops its technology.
He also offered a candid assessment of how UK start-ups finance their growth, suggesting companies often raise money in smaller stages rather than securing a large amount upfront.
“If we were American, we would have just gone out and raised £20m to £30m in one hit. But knowing how British funding works, we’ll breadcrumb it. That’s not a bad thing,” he said.
His comments highlight a funding challenge for deep-tech companies, which can require substantial investment to move from university research to commercial products. Matter Machine's £4m round provides an initial source of capital, but further funding and industry partnerships are likely to be important as it develops its offering.
For investors, the opportunity lies in applying AI to a field where advances can have implications across multiple industries. For Matter Machine, the next test will be whether it can turn that scientific potential into commercially useful technology.
