IIT Madras alumni's Discovered Materials offers a $1 million prize for five unsolved materials-science problems
The Y Combinator-backed startup wants to test whether AI can truly make scientific progress.
- $400,000 top prize for cuprate superconductivity
- $9M seed raised in August
- Y Combinator spring 2026 batch
The challenge
Discovered Materials, a San Francisco startup founded by IIT Madras alumni Advaith Sridhar and Akash Ramdas, is offering $1 million to anyone who solves five long-standing problems. The biggest prize, $400,000, is for cuprate superconductivity. Two problems carry $200,000 each and two carry $100,000 each. The others cover semiconductor interfaces, faster quantum-chemistry calculations, how light changes materials and heat transfer across solid interfaces.
Why
Advanced AI models, run as autonomous agents with internet access, made little progress over several days, Sridhar said, asking 'How do we know AI is making progress?' Individuals, teams and organisations can enter, there is no fixed deadline, and prizes go only to solutions that meet the scientific criteria.
The company
The startup was part of Y Combinator's spring 2026 batch and raised $9 million in seed funding in August.
