Woshi Digital raises $15M as Sinochem, chemical firms bet on AI4S infrastructure
What's the deal? Suzhou-based Woshi Digital TechnologyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised US$13.8M in a late-stage round, backed by SinochemDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Capital, Sinochem Green Fund, Haihui Capital, Yiwen Capital, Suzhou Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Suzhou SND Financial Holding, Yuanqiao Asset, Hangxin CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Demei ChemicalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and others. The company says the round closed across several rounds over the past year.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2021, Woshi builds AI-for-Science (AI4S) research infrastructure for chemistry, combining a structured chemical database, a full-stack AI model system it calls AI Scientist, and automated labs that run experiments from milligram to kilogram scale. The aim is a research loop where AI designs experiments, robots execute them, and the resulting data retrains the models.
The new money will fund model iteration, expansion of the chemical database, buildout of a Cloud Lab platform, and scaling of its automated experiment systems.
By the numbers: Woshi says revenue doubled in both 2024 and 2025, and it broke even in each of those years — unusual in an AI4S sector the company describes as high-investment, long-cycle, and largely unprofitable.
Why now? The company argues the field has moved past whether "AI can understand chemistry" to whether AI can reliably run experiments in real labs. It says traditional chemical, materials, and drug research leans heavily on scientists' experience, manual work, and scattered data, making it slow and hard to reproduce.
Sinochem is both investor and customer. The company says several Sinochem subsidiaries use its AI design and automation products, from fine-chemical synthesis to new-materials formulation. Sinochem CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → called the deal its "first strategic move" in AI4S (translated from Chinese).
What the founder says: "Capital markets no longer pay for 'AI understands chemistry,'" said founder and chief executive officer Zeng Zhuo, adding that investors are instead betting on the full industrial chain from "data to models to automated experiments to process scale-up" (translated from Chinese).
The signal: The round reflects a shift in AI4S funding toward companies that pair software with physical execution and real production validation. By locking in a chemical giant as investor, customer, and use-case provider, Woshi is testing whether AI-driven research can move from published papers to industrial-grade infrastructure — and whether that model can scale commercially.
Read more: 36kr.com
Image credit: oakridgelabnews
