Dunia Accelerates Green Chemical Innovation with $11.5 Million
Using AI and robotics, Dunia aims to cut material discovery time from decades to under three years for sustainable fuel production - © Dunia Innovations
Berlin-based startup Dunia Innovations has secured $11.5 million in funding to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials for sustainable energy production. The investment round was co-led by Elaia and redalpine, with participation from the European Innovation Council, Pace Ventures, Kindred Capital, Deep Science Ventures, and Anglo American.
Founded in 2022, Dunia combines artificial intelligence algorithms with a proprietary self-driving lab to address a critical bottleneck in the global energy transition. The company's innovative platform focuses on developing electrocatalysts for green hydrogen and ammonia production, as well as converting CO2 into advanced chemical products.
Traditional chemical research and development cycles can take decades to complete. Dunia aims to reduce this timeframe to under three years through its unique combination of chemical robotics and proprietary quantum chemistry-derived material representations. The startup's technology has already demonstrated success in a proof-of-concept study, where it outperformed human researchers in both speed and performance.
The global market for electrochemical technologies is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2050, highlighting the significant commercial opportunity. Catalysts, which drive 90% of today's chemical processes, play a vital role in the energy transition.
The company's founding team brings together expertise in chemistry, machine learning, and robotics. Dr. Carlos Haertel, former CTO of Climeworks, will serve as Chairman of the company board. Notable angel investors include Dr. Chris Gibson, CEO of Recursion, and Professor Lee Cronin, Regius Chair of Chemistry and CEO of Chemify.
