# Nick Talken

> Nick Talken is the Co-Founder and CEO of Albert Invent, an Oakland-based AI platform that is transforming how chemists and materials scientists do research and development. A chemical engineer by training who learned to code, Talken spent years inside Henkel's global R&D organization before spinning out Albert Invent in 2022 with a team of co-founders who built the product from within. The company's platform - used by over 3,000 scientists across 142+ labs in 30+ countries at companies like Kenvue, Henkel, and Chemours - has raised over $52 million from top-tier investors including Coatue, Index Ventures, TCV, and J.P. Morgan Private Capital.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Albert Invent
- **Organizations:** Albert Invent, Molecule Corp, Henkel, OSIsoft, UC Davis Ristenpart Research Group
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's Degree, Chemical Engineering / Electrofluidics Research, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Co-founded and scaled Albert Invent to 3,000+ scientists across 142+ labs in 30+ countries, Raised over $52 million from Coatue, Index Ventures, TCV, F-Prime, Homebrew, and J.P. Morgan Private Capital, Built an AI platform trained on 15 million molecular structures - one of the largest chemistry datasets

## Career timeline

- **2010-2014** — Studied Chemical Engineering at UC Davis; conducted electrofluidics research at the Ristenpart Research Group
- **2014-2015** — Software Product Manager at OSIsoft
- **2015** — Co-founded Molecule Corp, a 3D materials manufacturing company specializing in additive manufacturing materials, with Ken Kisner
- **2019** — Molecule Corp acquired by Henkel Corporation; Talken joins as Head of Digital R&D Platform
- **2019-2022** — Led digital transformation of Henkel's global R&D operation, integrating a team of 2,000+ scientists onto a unified platform - the internal tool became known as 'Albert'
- **2022** — Co-founded Albert Invent as a Henkel spin-out with Ken Kisner, Neelesh Vaikhary, and Zack Kisner
- **2023** — Albert Invent raised $7.5M seed round led by Index Ventures; emerged from stealth with thousands of existing users
- **2024-12** — Raised $22.5M Series A led by Coatue; launched Albert Breakthrough AI product
- **2025-02** — Secured growth investment led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital's Growth Equity Partners
- **2025-09** — Launched Albert Invent Japan K.K. in Tokyo
- **2025-10** — Announced multi-year strategic partnership with Kenvue (maker of Zyrtec, Neutrogena, Listerine)

## Achievements

- Co-founded and scaled Albert Invent to 3,000+ scientists across 142+ labs in 30+ countries
- Raised over $52 million from Coatue, Index Ventures, TCV, F-Prime, Homebrew, and J.P. Morgan Private Capital
- Built an AI platform trained on 15 million molecular structures - one of the largest chemistry datasets
- Led digital R&D transformation at Henkel covering 2,000+ scientists globally
- Co-founded Molecule Corp and successfully navigated its acquisition by Henkel in 2019
- Helped clients reduce product development cycles from 3 months to 2 days
- Achieved carbon-negative company status with EcoVadis and Greenly certifications
- Launched Albert Invent's Japan subsidiary in 2025, led by former Mitsubishi Chemical CTO
- Secured strategic partnership with Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE) for AI-driven consumer health product R&D
- Multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications in chemistry and materials science

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Albert Invent announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Kenvue (maker of Zyrtec, Neutrogena, Listerine) to accelerate AI-driven consumer health R&D
- **2025-09** — Launched Albert Invent Japan K.K. subsidiary in Tokyo, led by Dr. Larry Meixner (former CTO of Mitsubishi Chemical Group)
- **2025-02** — Secured growth investment led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital's Growth Equity Partners alongside Coatue and TCV
- **2024-12** — Raised $22.5M Series A led by Coatue; launched Albert Breakthrough AI product for chemists

## Links

- Website: https://albertinvent.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-talken-b720ba42
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Albert_Invent
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Albert-Invent-61576898348967/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nick-talken
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-25