Former Aionics Scientific Advisory Board Member Prof. Will Chueh Co-Founds New Battery Materials AI Venture

This week, the Wall Street Journal highlighted an investment from Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital into Mitra Chem, a new AI-driven battery materials development company co-founded by Stanford University’s Prof. Will Chueh, who served as a Scientific Advisor to Aionics from 2019 – 2021.

According to the Wall Street Journal:
“Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital Holdings Inc. is leading a $20 million funding round for a startup that hopes to use machine learning to address the challenge of producing electric-vehicle battery components outside China.

Mr. Palihapitiya’s venture-capital firm is backing Mitra Future Technologies Inc., a Silicon Valley company aiming to more efficiently make the components needed for rechargeable batteries, the companies said. The $20 million investment is the first significant fundraising round, or Series A, for the startup, which goes by Mitra Chem. The company didn’t disclose its valuation. Other investors include Taiwanese billionaire Richard Tsai and climate-focused Earthshot Ventures.”

The full article is available here.