{"id":17739,"date":"2025-12-08T05:57:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=17739"},"modified":"2025-12-08T05:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:57:48","slug":"chemistry-ai-startup-chemlex-raises-us45-million-sets-up-global-hq-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=17739","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry AI startup ChemLex raises US$45 million, sets up global HQ in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>The funds will be used to hire more hardware and software engineers as well as chemists in the city-state<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body-container\">\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">[SINGAPORE] ChemLex has raised a US$45 million funding round led by Granite Asia and established its global headquarters in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">The startup develops technologies to accelerate chemical discovery for the pharmaceutical industry. ChemLex\u2019s platform is a 24\/7 autonomous chemistry system that can run experiments and capture data in real time. <\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">The data collected through the platform in one day is equivalent to that from three years of running experiments the manual way.<strong> <\/strong>This transforms discovery into a smoother workflow rather than a stop-start process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">\u201cSingapore strengthens this effort and provides us an ecosystem to scale rapidly and support partners globally who need this capability now,\u201d said Sean Lin, founder and chief executive officer of ChemLex.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">The chemistry artificial intelligence (AI) company has supported more than 70 customers globally since its inception in 2022, including six of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world. ChemLex aims to tap the AI-powered drug discovery market, which is forecast to grow from US$3.6 billion in 2024 to about US$50 billion in 2034.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">\u201cThis 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,\u201d said Kuang Yinghui, partner at Granite Asia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">ChemLex is gearing up to duplicate the fully automated lab it has in Shanghai, in Singapore. The company\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">Lin makes it clear that the AI is not trained on customer data, having burned capital to train ChemLex\u2019s AI on the company\u2019s own dime and experiments. <\/p>\n<div data-component=\"component-container\" class=\"container px-0 no-print\">\n<div class=\"no-print mb-6 mt-8 border border-gray-175 p-6 md:-mx-8 md:mt-0 md:p-8\" data-testid=\"article-read-more-component\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-6 border-b border-gray-250 pb-4 font-poppins text-4xs font-medium tracking-widest text-gray-515\">SEE ALSO<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"section-article-read-more\">\n<div class=\"mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-read-more-individual-card-component\">\n<div data-testid=\"basic-card-component\" data-cueid=\"7704521\" class=\"relative flex flex-wrap items-start gap-4\">\n<div class=\"relative w-[70px] lg:w-[90px] aspect-3x2 order-1 flex-shrink-0\">\n<div class=\"w-full overflow-hidden relative flex\" data-testid=\"article-thumbnail-component\"><a class=\"block h-full w-full\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/international\/how-jenny-lee-became-asias-iron-woman-venture-capital?ref=article-see-also\" data-discover=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"relative z-10 h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/businesstimes\/fc4992ae63bb223e946d696889b533d87796fe033e4e4bb6a91970d459e04a6b?w=960&amp;dpr=1&amp;f=webp\" alt=\"In the past three decades, Singaporean venture capitalist Jenny Lee has proven her mettle with her trailblazing spirit. \" width=\"960\" height=\"640\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-read-more-individual-card-component\">\n<div data-testid=\"basic-card-component\" data-cueid=\"7574908\" class=\"relative flex flex-wrap items-start gap-4\">\n<div class=\"relative w-[70px] lg:w-[90px] aspect-3x2 order-1 flex-shrink-0\">\n<div class=\"w-full overflow-hidden relative flex\" data-testid=\"article-thumbnail-component\"><a class=\"block h-full w-full\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/startups-tech\/startups\/granite-asia-leads-neptune-robotics-us52-million-series-b-funding-round?ref=article-see-also\" data-discover=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"relative z-10 h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/businesstimes\/2a9ce2cbf93c1f2ecdf6e0dd918529470db62c5574a2a719b0eb43f567221037?w=960&amp;dpr=1&amp;f=webp\" alt=\"Neptune Robotics' underwater robots automate the dangerous work of ship hull cleaning and reduce biofouling, which drives up fuel consumption.\" width=\"1524\" height=\"858\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">\u201cThere\u2019s a clear firewall between different customers because (intellectual property) is everything,\u201d he said.<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">Separately, ChemLex also inked a memorandum of understanding with the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore\u2019s national platform for drug discovery and development. The collaboration seeks to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery \u2013 low molecular weight compounds \u2013 through advanced automation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words mb-4 md:mb-6\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-component\">\u201cThis partnership reinforces our shared vision of accelerating drug discovery and development through cutting-edge technology, ultimately bringing safer, more effective therapies to patients faster,\u201d said Professor Damian O\u2019Connell, CEO of EDDC.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"article-btg-newsletter-component\" class=\"border-t border-gray-175 py-3\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-lucida text-xl font-medium italic leading-normal -tracking-5% text-gray-850\">Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. <span class=\"inline border-none p-0 font-lucida text-inherit text-xl font-medium italic leading-normal !-tracking-5% text-verticals-btblue !underline outline-none\">Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter.<\/span> Delivered to your inbox. Free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/startups-tech\/startups\/chemistry-ai-startup-chemlex-raises-us45-million-sets-global-hq-singapore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The funds will be used to hire more hardware and software engineers as well as chemists in the city-state [SINGAPORE] ChemLex has raised a US$45&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}