Chemistry AI startup ChemLex raises US$45 million, sets up global HQ in Singapore

The funding will be used to hire more hardware and software engineers as well as chemists in Singapore. This will enable ChemLex to serve a broader range of pharmaceutical and material science projects.

“This is the type of deep-tech company that can reshape supply chains, shorten development timelines and unlock new economic value; and Singapore gives them the foundation to grow,” said Kuang Yinghui, partner at Granite Asia.

ChemLex is gearing up to duplicate the fully automated lab it has in Shanghai, in Singapore. The company’s AI powers the robot arms that carry out the manual labour in chemistry labs, from mixing reagents and checking for the chemical reactions to piping the samples.

Lin makes it clear that the AI is not trained on customer data, having burned capital to train ChemLex’s AI on the company’s own dime and experiments.

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“There’s a clear firewall between different customers because (intellectual property) is everything,” he said.

The AI not only carries out the experiments, but also helps find the most optimal way to make the target molecules that customers are looking for through reaction screening.

Separately, ChemLex also inked a memorandum of understanding with the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore’s national platform for drug discovery and development. The collaboration seeks to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery – low molecular weight compounds – through advanced automation.

“This partnership reinforces our shared vision of accelerating drug discovery and development through cutting-edge technology, ultimately bringing safer, more effective therapies to patients faster,” said Professor Damian O’Connell, CEO of EDDC.