Aether Biomachines Raises $15 M in New Round to Propel AI-Designed Protein Platform Forward

Aether Biomachines has raised an additional $15 million in funding, bringing its total capital to $64 million as the company accelerates its mission to design proteins that can perform industrial and environmental tasks traditionally handled by large chemical plants. The round, led by Tribe Capital with participation from Natural Capital, Henkel Corporation, Resilience Reserve, Shrug Capital, 4DX Ventures, Unless Partners, and Radicle Impact, positions Aether to transition more of its scientific breakthroughs into commercial deployment.

Rather than relying on massive chemical infrastructure and processes that have seen little modernization in decades, Aether designs nanoscale biological machines — proteins engineered by AI to build, break down, or transform materials with atomic-level precision. These proteins function as tiny assemblers capable of performing work that would otherwise require energy-intensive, costly, and rigid industrial facilities. By merging its proprietary Protein Function Model with high-throughput robotics, Aether can explore protein performance at a speed and scale that traditional chemical engineering cannot match.

Scaling AI-Engineered Materials

One of the company’s most visible early successes has been the creation of advanced polymer additives for additive manufacturing. RapidPrint and Ultra 3D, two of Aether’s flagship materials, have demonstrated the ability to 3D-print parts up to ten times faster while doubling the strength of printed components compared to standard industry materials. This shift has immediate implications for sectors where speed, resilience, and reliability matter — including aerospace, defense, and high-performance manufacturing. Faster production cycles and stronger components open the door to more agile supply chains and more responsive prototyping environments, allowing industries to move from months-long processes to workflows that can be executed in days or even hours.

Aether will use part of its new funding to scale these materials for broader commercial use. As manufacturing industries increasingly look beyond traditional polymers and composites, the ability to engineer material properties at the molecular level could fundamentally reshape how parts are designed, tested, and produced. By pushing 3D printing from a niche manufacturing method toward a mainstream industrial tool, Aether’s materials highlight how AI-engineered proteins could unlock entirely new categories of high-performance components.

Reimagining Industrial Chemistry

Beyond materials, Aether is building an extensive portfolio of proteins that could transform some of the most entrenched processes in industrial chemistry. The company has developed seven new protein classes capable of performing functions such as extracting rare earth metals, recycling plastics, degrading persistent “forever chemicals,” capturing carbon dioxide, and enabling more efficient production of complex pharmaceuticals. Each of these challenges has traditionally required large facilities, intensive energy use, or multistep chemical reactions — all of which are expensive, slow, and environmentally taxing.

With biology performing these tasks instead, industries could bypass many of the constraints associated with conventional chemical processing. Extracting minerals without destructive mining operations, breaking down hazardous pollutants at room temperature, or manufacturing pharmaceuticals without long chemical synthesis chains hints at an industrial ecosystem that is cleaner, more flexible, and far more scalable. The latest funding round will help Aether refine and optimize these protein classes while accelerating collaboration with companies seeking sustainable, high-efficiency alternatives to legacy chemical workflows.

Building Toward Biological Manufacturing

Underpinning these advances is Aether’s Protein Function Model, a proprietary AI system trained entirely on data generated in-house. This model allows the company to design and evaluate proteins rapidly, producing molecular tools tailored precisely to industrial and environmental needs. Paired with automated assays and robotics, Aether can explore millions of protein variants, identify promising candidates, and validate their performance in real-world conditions. The new funding will allow continued refinement of this model and expansion of the company’s internal datasets, enabling even more ambitious applications.

For industries that depend on long, fragile supply chains — such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and electronics — biology-based systems offer resilience and adaptability that traditional chemistry lacks. If proteins can perform tasks currently limited to energy-intensive infrastructure, manufacturers could operate with smaller footprints, lower costs, and far less environmental impact. Aether sees this convergence of biology, AI, and automation as the foundation of a new industrial paradigm.

What This Technology Signals About the Future

Aether Biomachines work points toward a future where industrial production and environmental restoration both shift from heavy chemical engineering to biological precision. If proteins can routinely build stronger materials, extract critical minerals, degrade persistent pollutants, and capture carbon, industries will be able to redesign processes around efficiency rather than compromise.

This shift could reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-based processes, minimize waste, and shorten production cycles from months to days. More importantly, it suggests a world where the core machinery of industry operates at a molecular level — flexible, programmable, and capable of evolving much faster than any physical factory. In that sense, the company’s $15 million raise is not just a funding milestone; it represents a broader transition toward a biologically enabled industrial future, where AI-designed proteins become foundational tools for rebuilding manufacturing, environmental systems, and supply chains from the molecule upward.