Albert raises $55 million to advance chemical AI in R&D
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Albert raises $55 million to advance chemical AI in R&D

Albert has successfully raised $55 million in a Series B funding round, with the funds designated for advancing artificial intelligence in scientific research. The leadership of this round was secured by TCV, and new investors joined, including Delta-v Capital, Socium Ventures, High Sage Ventures, Coral Capital, and Legion VC.

Truffle Capital led the financing, with participation from existing investors such as Coatue, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, Index Ventures, and Applied Ventures. The company plans to use the raised capital to further refine its chemistry-based platform.

Located in Oakland, California, Albert develops an operating system for materials science and chemistry. This platform integrates specialized AI with corporate security, management, and integration features, such as no data storage, granular access control, and audit trails of reasoning.

Albert provides services to organizations with complex research challenges facing evolving regulations and disrupted supply chains. Among the company's clients are BASF, Henkel, Clorox, Kenvue, and Akzo Nobel. Albert's goal is to help these companies' scientists faster transform experimental data into innovative products.

Albert's model, named Valence, is chemically specific and demonstrates an accuracy 45 times higher than general AI when answering scientific questions. This accuracy metric was achieved in a new study accompanying the funding announcement. Valence was trained on text processing and composition and function identification.

The method mimics the ability of an experienced chemist to distinguish between similar compositions and materials, as well as understand how minor changes can significantly impact an experiment. In chemistry, for instance, the slightest deviations in ingredients, procedures, or experimental conditions can lead to different results. Albert handles this through domain-specific intelligence and its Form Bench benchmark for formal chemistry.

Albert asserts that this benchmark will set a new standard for evaluation in this highly specialized field. The Albert platform combines scientific knowledge, AI tools, integrations, and regulatory control into a single environment. It allows scientists to interact with research data using natural language. By querying Albert, users coordinate tools, agents, and models to support complex scientific work.

The system helps teams find institutional knowledge and avoid repeating past experiments. It is capable of suggesting formula candidates, assisting in experiment design, and analyzing large datasets. These capabilities aim to eliminate bottlenecks in research and improve decision-making processes.

Furthermore, Albert supports enterprise requirements regarding data security and controlled access. Its chemistry-specific approach enables organizations to link information across various research systems, facilitating the discovery and reuse of valuable experimental knowledge.

Over the past year, Albert has demonstrated significant platform growth. Project creation increased 26-fold as Albert OS was implemented in organizational research functions. The number of scientists using the platform grew sixfold across 44 countries. These achievements reflect growing interest in specialized AI for corporate research.

Workflow creation also increased fourfold as more teams adopted various research processes on the platform. Ask Albert transformed from an AI search assistant into a broader R&D partner in just six months. Client feedback highlights the value of connecting disparate scientific information. Kenvue noted that the partnership with Albert improved connections within the overall data platform, while AkzoNobel used Ask Albert to query information covering raw materials and lab journal entries. Albert intends to use the new funding to expand its capabilities and accelerate product development.

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SWI raised €800 million to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure in Europe and the US
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SWI raised €800 million to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure in Europe and the US

SWI Group has raised €800 million from institutional investors to develop its artificial intelligence infrastructure. The investment holding company, whose shares are listed in Amsterdam, reported a valuation of €6.1 billion. This latest funding increased the volume of capital raised from equity since March 2026 to over €1 billion.

The company plans to use the funds to develop energy infrastructure, acquire computing equipment, and build data centers. SWI's main focus is on digital infrastructure in both Europe and the United States. Its strategy includes increasing AI computing power and developing services for cloud service clients.

SWI did not disclose the identities of the institutional investors participating in the latest funding round. The transaction involved increasing the company's common shares to approximately 558.4 million, and its free float grew by about 20%.

SWI's expansion is based on acquiring control of Genesis Digital Assets. Earlier, in June 2026, the company announced its intention to invest $500 million in Bitcoin mining business. It was reported that Genesis Digital had 1.3 gigawatts of connected and approved network capacity across 15 facilities.

SWI planned to repurpose suitable sites for high-performance computing and AI. The acquisition was carried out through subsequent deals in the following months. Later, SWI acquired an additional 4.4% stake from funds managed by Stone Ridge Asset Management.

By September, the company reported owning approximately 70% of voting rights. Genesis Digital was renamed SWI Digital. SWI intends to offer its facilities to major cloud providers in Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as offering its Swedish infrastructure to potential clients.

The company is selling the remaining three small Bitcoin mining sites in Kazakhstan, as management indicated that Bitcoin mining is no longer a central element of its strategy. Repurposing existing infrastructure may help SWI meet the demand for AI computing.

Recent SWI reports demonstrate an extensive infrastructure development plan. Its US-focused platform has about 1.2 gigawatts of secured network connections, and the European business AiOnX plans an additional 2.3 gigawatts of capacity. These figures illustrate the group's projected scale in both regions, but they reflect only secured power access and planned projects, not currently operational AI computing power.

SWI is developing its own enterprise and developer-oriented AI cloud platform that will provide access to GPU resources. The new funding will be directed towards advancing data center construction and equipment deployment.

Previously, Genesis Digital received a significant $1.15 billion from the trading firm Alameda Research, owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, between August 2021 and April 2022. However, after the collapse of FTX, the FTX Recovery Trust intervened, filing a lawsuit to recover these funds. The trust alleged that the misappropriated funds were used and assets were acquired at inflated prices. The trust withdrew all claims on June 15, 2026, the same day SWI announced its initial investment in Genesis Digital.

The new funding underscores SWI's continued commitment to AI infrastructure. The company's success will partly depend on converting available network connections into valuable computing services. Demand from cloud providers could support the company's expansion into international markets.

Armadin raises $255.5 million to combat artificial intelligence threats using agentic AI
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Armadin raises $255.5 million to combat artificial intelligence threats using agentic AI

As artificial intelligence grows rapidly, the activity of malicious actors is increasing at the same pace, using advanced AI models to turn new vulnerabilities into fully functional exploits in just a few hours. Traditional penetration testing methods cannot cope with this alarming speed, as they only issue isolated alerts lacking real context, creating serious gaps in enterprise security.

To bridge this gap, Armadin raised $255.5 million in a Series B funding round, achieving a valuation of $2.5 billion just seven months after exiting stealth mode. Existing defense methods are ineffective because human security teams operate in a standard mode, trying to keep up with autonomous scripts that function around the clock.

Attackers often gain the upper hand because they do not view network weaknesses in isolation; they skillfully link small, seemingly insignificant configuration errors with unauthenticated remote execution vulnerabilities. Before many companies can react, hackers gain access to their cloud infrastructure. Standard security tools simply generate huge lists of generic warnings.

CEO Kevin Mandia and his team at Armadin changed this situation by attacking themselves in a safe, controlled environment. Armadin deploys a highly autonomous swarm of specialized AI agents directly into an organization's production environment. These agents are capable of reasoning, adapting, and acting like elite, state-sponsored hackers searching for entry points.

By identifying exploitable paths, moving through the network, and linking vulnerabilities, they create a confirmed attack chain. This allows enterprise and government security teams to get a clear picture of the potential scope of a breach before it happens, thereby leveling the playing field between defense and attack.

Recognizing the growing threat facing the AI industry, Armadin has received significant backing from major enterprises. In seven months since leaving stealth mode, the startup reached a $2.5 billion valuation. The latest $255.5 million Series B round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Accel, injecting substantial capital into realizing their vision. New investors include Bain Capital Ventures and Redpoint, while industry giants such as Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, 8VC, Ballistic Ventures, and In-Q-Tel enthusiastically joined them.

This increases Armadin's total funding to an impressive $445 million. The investment community clearly sees the trend: AI is not just a buzzword, but the most significant platform shift in cybersecurity history. The old guard is actively being replaced by intelligent, offensive defense.

With the new capital infusion, Armadin plans to aggressively scale its agentic security platform globally. The funds will be directed towards accelerating cutting-edge research, intensive training of hyper-attack AI models, and powerful market entry. The company is already conducting simulations of high-risk campaigns for Fortune 500 giants and leading government agencies where the stakes are extremely high.

As adversaries continue to arm artificial intelligence relentlessly, creating proactive defenses trained against the best possible attack is no longer a luxury—it is the only viable path forward.

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