Rhinovate raises hundreds of millions RMB Pre-A for AI-driven materials R&D loop
机器之心 · wechat · 2026-09-02
Rhinovate (鼎犀智创), an AI materials-R&D startup spun out of Peking University, has closed a Pre-A round of several hundred million RMB led by Dinghui Baifu, its third round within a year.
Its RhinoAI platform links an AI Scientist, a self-driving lab and pilot-scale validation: algorithms propose hypotheses, robots run high-throughput experiments, and data flows back to update the models. The polymer-focused foundation model RhinoMat draws on 1.25M+ multi-scale simulation records and 48K automated experiment records.
Disclosed results: a carbon/aramid composite fiber compressed a search originally estimated at 2,000 days down to 4 days (99.8% shorter), reaching an industry-leading 41.2 cN/dtex tensile strength and now in pilot scale, winning first prize in WAIC 2026's AI4S track; an electrolyte project locked in a formulation direction in 7 days, cutting the cycle from 180 to 30 days with 75% fewer experiments and >99.5% coulombic efficiency. Partners include Wanhua Chemical and BTR.
More from Venture
- Massive seed rounds reflect capital supply, not market demand — ai · 2026-09-02
- Paid placements on publisher subfolders will get hit; normal news URLs still worth paying for — gaganghotra_ · 2026-09-02
- GitLab jumps 17% on earnings; trader shares AI agent infrastructure stock framework — menhguin · 2026-09-02
- Cognition reportedly raising $1B at $47B valuation — rohanpaul_ai · 2026-09-02
- August 2026 Spam Update hits French sites hard; casino sites now getting hit too — gaganghotra_ · 2026-09-02
- SEC Proposes Opening Private Markets Amidst Anthropic/OpenAI Liquidity Rush — churchkey · 2026-09-02