CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kebotix Inc., a technology platform company for new chemicals and materials, announced today that Dr. Ashish Kulkarni, executive vice president and chief technology and innovation officer of Avantor Inc., has joined Kebotix’s board of directors.

“Ashish brings to the Kebotix board extensive experience serving as CTO for several large global companies,” said Dr. Jill S. Becker, Kebotix CEO and founder. “As Kebotix ushers in the future of new materials discovery, Ashish serving as an independent board member makes us stronger with his impressive record of incubating new technologies and building growth-minded pipelines.”

Kebotix uses AI and robotics to speed up the discovery and manufacturing of advanced materials and chemicals. When the Cambridge, Mass.-based technology company came out of stealth mode in late 2018 with a $5.055 million seed round, Kebotix became the first company in the world to demonstrate the “self-driving laboratory.” With the AI-powered, fully integrated Kebotix platform for materials discovery, Kebotix aims to revolutionize the $800 billion global materials market.

“The emergence of AI, machine learning and other new technologies is changing the materials and chemicals world in exciting and beneficial ways,” Kulkarni said. “Kebotix is enabling and driving this change by being on the forefront of these cutting-edge capabilities. Being part of this, working side by side with Jill Becker and the entire Kebotix team, is a real thrill for me.”

Avantor is a leading global provider of products and services in such industries as biopharma, healthcare, education and government, and advanced technologies and applied materials. Prior to joining Avantor in 2016, Kulkarni served as chief technology and innovation officer at Celanese Corp., among other roles in his six years there. Earlier, he was vice president of the Global Engineering, Building Systems and Services divisions of United Technologies Corp. Kulkarni’s career includes serving in various leadership roles with American Standard and GE.

Kulkarni holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Osmania University, India, as well as master’s and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

About Kebotix

Kebotix (www.kebotix.com) is building the materials company of the 21st century to usher in a new age of high-speed innovation using artificial intelligence and robotic automation. Based on technology developed at Harvard University, Kebotix has built the world’s first self-driving lab for materials discovery powered by AI and robotics. Kebotix, founded in 2017, is accelerating the exploration, discovery, use and production of new molecules and materials that can solve some of the world’s most urgent problems.

Kebotix’s investors include Boston-based One Way Ventures, which led the seed round; San Francisco-based Baidu Ventures; Boston-based Flybridge Capital Partners; Los Angeles-based Embark Ventures; Norway-based Propagator Ventures; and New York-based WorldQuant Ventures.