Hourstec raises over 100 million yuan, revenue doubles for second consecutive year | Linear Portfolio

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Today, Hourstec announced that it has completed multiple consecutive funding rounds exceeding RMB 100 million over the past year, with several prominent strategic and financial investors increasing their stakes.

Hourstec is one of the most fully integrated AI4S companies in China, combining structured chemical data, AI-powered scientific decision-making, and automated experiment execution. Its products are already serving multiple leading clients in chemicals, new energy, and pharmaceuticals at scale, with revenue doubling for two consecutive years while maintaining break-even status for two consecutive years.

Linear Capital led Hourstec's angel round and has continued to invest in subsequent rounds.

Recently, Hourstec announced multiple consecutive funding rounds completed over the past year, with joint investment from Sinochem Capital, Haihui Capital, Yiwen Capital, Suzhou Venture Capital Group, SNDHT (Suzhou New District High Technology), Yuanqiao Asset, Hangxin Capital, Demei Chemical, and other notable strategic and financial institutions.

The proceeds will primarily fund full-stack AI Scientist model iteration, expansion of structured chemical databases, development of the Cloud Lab platform, and scaling and industrial deployment of fully unmanned, intelligent, and automated experimental platforms spanning milligram to kilogram scales.

Founded in 2021, Hourstec is one of the most fully integrated AI4S companies in China, combining structured chemical data, AI-powered scientific decision-making, and automated experiment execution. The company has built a leading structured chemical database in China and developed a full-stack AI model system (AI Scientist) covering molecular design, reaction prediction, synthetic route planning, condition recommendation, and experimental decision-making. It has embedded these model capabilities into real laboratory scenarios spanning high-throughput exploration → process optimization → scale-up validation, creating an R&D flywheel of "AI design → automated execution → real-time characterization → data feedback → model evolution."

Traditional R&D in chemistry, materials, and pharmaceuticals relies heavily on scientists' experience, manual operations, and fragmented data — resulting in long development cycles, low reproducibility, and difficulty in knowledge accumulation. Hourstec aims to package data, models, hardware, and process knowledge into a deliverable, industrial-grade R&D infrastructure.

Hourstec's capabilities are not stuck at the demo stage. Currently, the company's AI, data, and automation products are already serving multiple leading clients in chemicals, new energy, and pharmaceuticals at scale. Beyond Sinochem Capital's strategic investment, multiple subsidiaries of Sinochem Group are actively using Hourstec's AI design and automated experiment products — from fine chemical synthesis processes to new materials formulation exploration. The Sinochem ecosystem is simultaneously an investor, a deep user, and a scenario provider.

This "capital + scenario + procurement" triple binding is extremely rare in the AI4S industry: it means Hourstec's technology isn't just "looking like it works" in a pilot workshop, but has been repeatedly validated and continuously iterated in the real production R&D processes of top chemical industry clients.

The commercial data sends an equally clear signal: in 2024–2025, the company's revenue doubled for two consecutive years while maintaining break-even status for two consecutive years. Against the backdrop of the AI4S sector's general pattern of "high investment, long cycles, and no profits yet," Hourstec has become one of the first to validate that "data → models → automated experiments → process scale-up" is not only a technical pathway but also a scalable commercial one.

Hourstec is building a four-layer integrated AI4S infrastructure:

1. Data foundation: China's leading structured chemical and materials database

2. Decision brain: Proprietary full-stack AI Scientist

3. Proprietary execution layer: Unmanned laboratories from milligram to kilogram scale

4. Open services layer: Cloud Lab — opening up equipment and AI capabilities to the outside world, promoting R&D democratization and serving as an R&D partner for the industry

Hourstec product scenarios

From 2023 to 2025, the industry solved the problem of "whether AI can understand chemistry"; after 2026, the competitive focus shifts to "whether AI can consistently get things done in real laboratories," as AI4S enters the "automated experiment-driven" stage.

Hourstec's read on this: without high-quality structured data, AI is empty talk; without automated experiments, AI cannot evolve itself; without industrial scale-up scenarios, AI4S remains forever in academic papers. Therefore, from day one the company pursued a full-stack approach of "database + models + hardware + process knowledge," rather than selling SaaS, model APIs, or standalone automation equipment.

Regarding this funding round, Zhuo Zeng, founder and CEO of Hourstec, said: "Over the past year, multiple funding rounds all point to the same signal — capital markets are no longer paying for 'AI that understands chemistry,' but are betting on the complete industrial chain of 'data → models → automated experiments → process scale-up.'

Next, Hourstec will continue to deepen four things: making the database the data foundation for Chinese R&D institutions, making AI Scientist the operating system for scientific research, making proprietary unmanned laboratories industrial-grade R&D production lines, and making Cloud Lab a partner platform for industry R&D. We thank Sinochem Capital for bringing industrial scenarios, and we thank the trust of our many investors."

Our goal is straightforward: make chemistry and materials R&D as iterative as writing code, turn every experiment into data that improves the model, and ensure China masters its own data, models, and manufacturing capabilities in this new wave of the AI4S paradigm revolution."

About Hourstec

Suzhou Hourstec Digital Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2021, focused on reconstructing the R&D paradigm for chemistry, materials, and pharmaceuticals through "structured chemical data + full-stack AI Scientist + unmanned intelligent laboratories." The company's core team comes from Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Science and Technology of China, and leading chemical/pharmaceutical enterprises. It has served clients across new energy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other sectors, and is one of the few AI4S platform companies in China to have fully connected the "data → models → automated experiments → process scale-up" chain. Previous investors include Linear Capital, Matrix Partners China, 5Y Capital, and Oriza Holdings.