Former OpenAI researcher to raise $500 million for startup

Published on

May 14, 2026

Periodic Labs, which plans to push breakthroughs in physics and chemistry using artificial intelligence, is in talks to raise $500 million at a valuation of $7.5 billion, a nearly sixfold jump since it was founded.

Periodic Labs’ pitch to use automated laboratories to run thousands of physics and chemistry experiments for its AI models has captured investor attention with a new round valuing it at $7.5 billion.
Corbis via Getty Images

Periodic Labs, a startup building an AI scientist that can use automated labs to make discoveries, is in advanced talks to raise at a $7.5 billion valuation in a round led by AMP, an investment vehicle founded by former Andreessen Horowitz general partner Anjney Midha, three sources familiar with the matter told Forbes.

The round will be at least $500 million, two of the sources said. The round was “significantly oversubscribed” and there are already talks for a fast-follow additional round at even higher valuation, one of the sources said.

Periodic Labs did not respond to a request for comment. AMP declined to comment.

The aggressive fundraise marks a meteoric rise for the San Francisco-based startup, which emerged in September last year with a $300 million seed round at a $1.3 billion valuation. If the current deal closes at the $7.5 billion mark, Periodic Labs, which debuted on the Forbes AI 50 Brink list this year, will see its value increase nearly sixfold in less than eight months.

Bloomberg reported in March that Periodic Labs was in talks for a large funding round with at least a $7 billion valuation.

The company was founded by Liam Fedus, a former vice president of research at OpenAI, and Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a former research scientist at Google’s DeepMind. According to the company’s website, Periodic Labs is developing autonomous robotic laboratories to run experiments to create custom…

Source