Citrine Informatics Closes $8 Million Convertible Note to Meet International Demand for Materials-Driven AI

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Citrine Informatics, the materials data and artificial intelligence (AI)
platform, today announced it has received additional capital in the form
of an $8 million convertible note from Tencent
Holdings, a leading provider of Internet value-added services in
China, and B&C
Holdings, an Austria-based private-equity firm. The note will help
with international expansion and hiring the right talent across data
science, engineering and sales to keep pace with high market demand.

“Through working with Citrine, the materials science field now has the
opportunity to embrace artificial intelligence to accelerate the
discovery of new materials that will help us live smarter and safer
lives,” said David Wallerstein, Chief eXploration Officer at Tencent.
“Citrine’s capabilities will catalyze the discovery of many new mass
market materials and help evolve the fundamental building blocks of
civilization.”

The product manufacturing process has seen tremendous innovation fueled
by automation and advanced analytics, yet the process for developing
cutting-edge chemicals and alloys remains largely unchanged. Citrine
dramatically reduces the time and cost of this process by providing a
data platform of record, as well as artificial intelligence optimized to
predict materials behavior. As a result, Citrine’s technology has helped
some of the world’s largest organizations, including chemicals and
product companies, hit overall R&D milestones in less than 50 percent of
the time originally forecasted.

“The need to accelerate materials development is global and spans many
industries, and this investment allows us to move more quickly into
local markets,” said Greg Mulholland, CEO and founder of Citrine
Informatics. “We are thrilled to partner for growth with Tencent and B&C
Holdings.”

In addition, Citrine today announced a partnership agreement with UL, a
global safety consulting and certification company that connects people
to safer, more secure and more sustainable products, services,
experiences and environments. UL has some of the most important datasets
critical for products companies needing to identify the exact chemical
raw materials in their development process and is a leader in commercial
product data. This data can now be used on the Citrine platform, and the
two companies are working together to significantly advance data-driven
materials discovery and product development.

“UL has been at the forefront of product innovation for over a century,”
said Henning Schwinum, Managing Director, Prospector, at UL. “Our
cooperation with Citrine allows for an exciting exploration of new
business opportunities that address previously insufficiently met market
needs.”

Citrine Financial Highlights and Company Momentum

• Closed its Series A round of funding, led by top investors including
  Innovation Endeavors, DCVC, XSeed Capital, Prelude Ventures, Morado
  Ventures, AME Cloud, Ulu Ventures.
• Grew its bookings 3x year-over-year, working with top companies like
  Panasonic and Daikin, the global refrigeration company.
• Expanded its employee base by 4x since 2016, with new offices in
  Pittsburgh, PA and Chicago, and additional expected to open in Europe
  and Asia in the coming year.

Citrine Industry Accolades and Awards

• Won the prestigious 2017 World Materials Forum Startup Challenge in
  July 2017.
• Recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer in 2017
  – one of only 30 companies named ‘most promising’ from an innovative
  technology perspective – for Citrine’s work in accelerating the
  development of advanced chemicals and materials as well as
  cutting-edge product development.
• Featured in 8 scientific journals in the last 12 months, including the
  journal Nature in September 2017.

About Citrine Informatics

Citrine
Informatics accelerates the materials development cycle by combining
access to the world’s largest materials dataset as well as a data
platform and AI designed by materials scientists. Citrine is backed by
leading investors including Tencent
Holdings, B&C
Holdings,
Innovation Endeavors, DCVC
(Data Collective), Prelude
Ventures, AME
Cloud, XSeed
Capital, Morado
Ventures, and Ulu
Ventures. The company is headquartered in Redwood City, CA. Follow
us at @Citrine_io.

Contacts

Citrine Informatics
Andrea Fuller
[email protected]