Artificial Intelligence
Autonomous AI Scientists
A new class of well-funded startups is building 'AI scientists' -- systems combining large language models, robotics, and automated laboratories to generate hypotheses, run experiments, and iterate on physical discoveries with limited human involvement. Periodic Labs, founded by ex-OpenAI VP of Research Liam Fedus and former Google Brain/DeepMind researcher Ekin Dogus Cubuk, raised a $300 million seed round at a $1.5 billion valuation in September 2025 and was reported in talks for a further $500 million round at a $7.5 billion valuation in 2026; Flagship Pioneering's Lila Sciences has raised over $550 million (including an NVIDIA-backed extension) at a valuation exceeding $1.3 billion to build 'AI science factories'; and Autoscience raised a $14 million seed round to deploy automated AI research scientists that invent, validate, and deploy machine learning models for Fortune 500 clients.
Sources
Every claim traced to a primary source — evidence, recent activity, and insider filing behavior, all in one place.
Evidence
2 sources · 57% avg. source confidence
- TechCrunch — Periodic Labs raises record $300M seed for AI-for-science58% source confidence
- Fierce Biotech / Yahoo Finance — Lila Sciences tops $1.3B valuation with NVIDIA-backed extension56% source confidence
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The Story So Far (last 6 months)
Auto-generated from this entity's dated milestones, relationship updates, and sourced evidence — not AI-written, just sorted.
Autonomous AI Scientists's Timeline
A sourced, dated history of Autonomous AI Scientists's key moments — founding to present.
Sep 2025 · Periodic Labs launches with record $300M AI-science seed
Periodic Labs, founded by ex-OpenAI VP of Research Liam Fedus and former Google Brain/DeepMind researcher Ekin Dogus Cubuk, launched with a $300 million seed round at a $1.5 billion valuation, the largest seed round in AI-for-science history, aiming to combine AI, robotics and simulation to accelerate materials and physics discovery.
Mar 2026 · Lila Sciences tops $1.3B valuation with NVIDIA backing
Flagship Pioneering's Lila Sciences, which builds AI-driven 'science factories' for life sciences, chemistry and materials, topped a $1.3 billion valuation after raising more than $550 million in total, including a $115 million extension with participation from NVIDIA's venture arm.