Red River Insights - Advanced Materials top 10
The startups redefining what our world is made of
Red River Insights - July 2025
Dear friends,
What if your next t-shirt was made from captured CO₂? Or your phone battery didn’t rely on rare minerals from halfway across the world? Welcome to the world of next-generation materials, where biology, AI, chemistry, and circular design are coming together to reinvent the very building blocks of our economy.
Over the past few years, a new class of startups has emerged to tackle big, systemic problems - think carbon emissions, supply chain fragility, and resource scarcity - by reimagining what things are made of and how we make them. From AI-designed catalysts and space-manufactured semiconductors to bio-based plastics and recycled composites, materials innovation is shaping the future of everything from energy to fashion.
🌍 Why Now?
🌱 Sustainability demands are soaring: materials like cement, steel, and polyester account for vast emissions, with for instance fashion alone producing more CO₂ than aviation and shipping combined.
🔋 Strategic urgency is intensifying: Europe and the US are racing to secure critical resources like lithium and cobalt, as supply chains remain dominated by China.
🤖 Technology is speeding things up: AI and automation are making it possible to discover and prototype new materials even faster than before.
✅ Did you know? DeepMind’s materials discovery model identified 2 million+ crystalline materials in one go, upending how we think about what’s possible. (Link)
🚀 So What’s Fueling the Startup Surge?
With new EU laws, fast-moving climate goals, and a whopping €500 million public-private fund backing the sector, early-stage innovators are stepping up. But there's a catch: materials take time. Unlike software, new materials must prove they work in messy, real-world supply chains, and win over cautious customers in massive industries like construction, textiles, and energy.
Last year, Sweden’s Renewcell (a fast-growing textile recycler) filed for bankruptcy despite big-name backing. At the same time, new players like Syre and CuspAI are attracting large rounds to push forward more scalable, AI-driven or circular alternatives.
As many of you know, each month we dive into a new theme. Most of the time, it aligns closely with our investment thesis, but every so often, we explore ideas that fall just outside our core focus. Not because we’re shifting our strategy, but because these areas spark our curiosity and, in some cases, might shape the future in ways worth watching.
RAMP's Advanced Materials top10 (11 actually this time!)
We hope this sparks interesting conversations. If you have any comments or would like to suggest a startup that should be included, feel free to reach out to us. Joseph, Chloé and Olivier will be delighted to discuss these trends and rankings.
(Ranking established on 16/07/2025)
We've highlighted 5 key trends illustrated by these companies:
AI-driven materials discovery
The fusion of AI, ML, and automation is reshaping the way we invent new materials. Today’s startups are harnessing these tools to cut years from the R&D timeline, broaden industry options, and unlock smarter solutions for sustainable manufacturing and product performance.
Think of Dunia Innovation, where AI and robotics partner up to transform how we discover sustainable materials, speeding up both lab work and innovation cycles. Entalpic is another example, applying genAI to design low-carbon catalysts for industrial processes. With altrove AI, the power of automated labs meets advanced AI to rapidly design and synthesize new inorganic compounds. As CuspAI’s CEO Chad Edwards puts it: “We’re flipping the old process on its head and saying, ‘Well, if you can put materials or molecules in and get properties out, then why can’t you put properties in and get materials and molecules?’”
Circular, low-carbon & bio-based materials
A shift toward circular economy principles and climate-positive manufacturing is driving the creation of new materials from waste, biogenic resources, or captured CO₂. These companies are redefining carbon management and product life cycles in industries such as construction, packaging, and polymers.
For example, Paebbl turns captured CO₂ into supplementary cement, locking carbon directly inside concrete. ecoLocked takes biochar and integrates it into concrete mixes, so every new building can literally store carbon for centuries. Advanced process control is also in the spotlight: Alcemy uses AI to guide cement and concrete producers, ensuring that every batch is optimally green and consistently high-quality. Further from the cement industry, Fairbrics wants to lead the shift in apparel by converting industrial CO₂ emissions into polyester, helping the fashion sector become less dependent on fossil-based textiles.
Bonus: Fairmat, a highly promising contender just outside our top 10, gives a second life to advanced carbon composite waste (once headed for landfills) by transforming it into durable new carbon fiber. The result? All sorts of unexpected applications, like reinventing padel rackets or golf clubs!
Batteries & energy storage
The global demand for batteries is exploding, fueled by surging electric vehicle adoption and the shift to renewable energy, with the lithium-ion battery market expected to exceed $400 billion by 2035. Europe is fast-tracking its response, planning many gigafactories (including Verkor’s flagship plant in Dunkirk) to meet the need for over 1,200 GWh of annual production, boost local supply, and create green jobs. But beyond climate targets, this battery push is a pressing geopolitical issue: with China controlling much of the extraction and processing of lithium, nickel, and cobalt, Europe faces both supply risks and price volatility.
That’s why battery material startups are so crucial. Tozero focuses on recycling spent batteries, reliably recovering valuable metals for a true “closed loop” supply chain, so today’s old phones and EVs power tomorrow’s. Meanwhile, Mecaware uses advanced chemical processes to recover battery metals from waste more efficiently and with a lighter environmental footprint.
Nano & Atomic-Scale Manufacturing
Manufacturing at the atomic and nanoscopic levels is unlocking new device architectures and material properties not possible with traditional methods. Startups like Atlant 3D are taking fabrication down to the atomic level, enabling “atomic-layer 3D printing” that constructs materials and components atom by atom. This breakthrough not only makes it possible to design ultra-precise microchips, sensors, and quantum devices but also opens the door to entirely new architectures and efficiencies in fields like semiconductors and advanced electronics.
Space-Based Manufacturing
Meanwhile, a new frontier is opening above our heads: space-based manufacturing. Pioneers like Space Forge are sending production into orbit to take advantage of microgravity, vacuum, and extreme temperatures. In orbit, it’s possible to grow semiconductor crystals and other advanced materials with levels of purity and defect-free quality simply not achievable on Earth.
More on RAMP's scoring method
The ranking of these startups is based on the estimated momentum of the company, but the algorithm does not assess the quality or reliability of the products/solutions developed by these companies!
Find out about the algorithm behind this ranking and the way scores are calculated here: Cheat sheet on RAMP
In case you missed them, our latest top 10s are here: Quantum (June25), Spanish tech (May25) Sport Tech (April 25), HR Tech (March25), Open Source AI (Feb25), Agentic AI (Jan25), French Tech (Dec24)
All the previous Top 10 are here.
Portfolio news:
Robovision released version 5.10 of its industrial AI platform, featuring enhanced edge data capture and storage monitoring. The company also welcomed Michael Black as CFO to support its next phase of growth. (More here)
Veesion was featured on KTLA News in Los Angeles, showcasing its AI’s impact on retail shrinkage. The company also expanded into Mexico and Brazil, bringing its technology to 5,000+ stores globally. (More here)
Resilience expanded its digital oncology platform to two new French centers: Centre Eugène Marquis and Polyclinique Saint Côme, reinforcing its commitment to accessible, continuous cancer care. (More here)
CMA Media has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Brut., a leading digital-native media outlet and the top European news platform on TikTok and Instagram, with a presence also in India and the United States. (More here)
DeepOpinion was featured in Forrester’s “Agentic AI” report, highlighting its 90%+ straight-through processing results for clients like Allianz, and enterprise-grade automation without major system overhauls. (More here)
Team news:
Last week, our team had the honor of co-organizing the Open Source track at the RAISE Summit through our new fund, >commit. Over two days, we brought together 100+ Open Source founders, 50+ CTOs, and world-class leaders including Matt Hicks (Red Hat), Paul Copplestone (Supabase), and Mitchell Baker (Mozilla).
We hosted and moderated several high-profile panels and fireside chats on Open Software infrastructure, AI acceleration, and monetization strategies. The energy culminated in an unforgettable rooftop Open Source Soirée with Hugging Face, SambaNova, and The Linux Foundation.
You received this newsletter because we met or worked together and we thought you might be interested in an update, if we got it wrong, feel free to unsubscribe with the link at the end!