How CuspAI is Revolutionising Materials Discovery, with Debbie Toms

About this episode

Debbie Toms discusses her journey from corporate roles to leading CuspAI, a startup revolutionizing materials discovery through AI.

When Debbie Toms met Chad Edwards at a casual barbecue in early 2024, neither of them could have predicted what would unfold. Two years on, CuspAI has raised over $130 million, assembled a world-class team across Europe, and is tackling some of humanity's most pressing challenges through AI driven materials discovery. It's the kind of origin story that makes you question whether you've been to the right barbecues lately. What makes Debs' journey particularly compelling is her transition from structured corporate roles. Nine years at Deloitte, eight at Marshall Aerospace, to the controlled chaos of an early-stage deep tech startup. Her insight? "You have to get very comfortable very quickly with just not knowing all the answers." The company itself represents a genuine breakthrough. CuspAI has built an agentic platform that models material properties with extraordinary speed. Where traditional materials discovery involves years of laboratory work with a mere 6% success rate, CuspAI can deliver equivalent results in 45 minutes with a projected 90% success rate. Key Milestones in Two Years ·      Company incorporated March 2024…

People in this episode

Hosts: James Parton, Faye Holland

Guest: Debbie Toms

Topics covered

• AI
• materials discovery
• startup journey
• technology innovation
• corporate transition

Keywords

• CuspAI
• materials discovery
• AI technology
• startup
• Deloitte
• corporate transition
• innovation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CuspAI, Deloitte, Marshall Aerospace

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