Why we backed Uncountable: Accelerating Innovation with Modern R&D Systems

Why we backed Uncountable: Accelerating Innovation with Modern R&D Systems

By: Caitlin Vorlicek & Raaga Kannan

The old adage “garbage in garbage out” is common wisdom in the age of AI, and yet garbage data continues to accumulate in the deep and narrow pockets of enterprise business silos. Turns out that the R&D departments of these enterprises are no exception, and it’s becoming a real problem. Despite nearly $700B spent annually on research and development¹, companies frequently rely on outdated or homegrown tools to manage their experiments, leading to siloed data and inefficient workflows. Our recent investment in Uncountable is solving this problem: as a leader in an enormous upgrade cycle, Uncountable provides a centralized system of record that strengthens R&D data infrastructure, enabling teams to fully leverage their experimental data and harness AI to accelerate innovation. We’re proud to partner with Uncountable as they help the world’s leading R&D organizations innovate faster and smarter.

Broken Status Quo in R&D

While R&D teams push the frontiers of technology every day, the tools used to capture and manage experimental data remain outdated. Before adopting Uncountable, some customers relied on a mix of Excel, Google Docs, and physical notebooks. Others had assembled a patchwork of on-premise, packaged or homegrown solutions that varied across different research sites. None of these solutions were equipped to handle the growing complexities of R&D experiments. One customer likened their tech stack to “using a horse and buggy for intergalactic travel”.

Even as physical lab notebooks moved to Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) emerged, the lack of intuitive user interfaces, seamless collaboration, and widespread adoption left experimental data siloed, unstructured, and underutilized.

As industries like chemicals, materials, cosmetics, life sciences, and food & beverage continue to advance, innovation increasingly depends on complex formulations and multi-variable experiments. With growing ingredient diversity and tighter performance requirements, the R&D process has become more complex and data intensive.

AI as a Catalyst for Change

The rapid advancement of AI is adding both urgency and opportunity to the modernization of R&D infrastructure. As one customer put it, “AI adoption is a board room conversation at every major chemical company right now.” From enabling generative search across past experiments to predicting formulations that meet precise performance criteria, AI has the potential to reduce duplicative work and accelerate development cycles.

While companies are eager to deploy AI, one critical ingredient stands in the way: clean, centralized, and structured data. Most enterprises still operate with fragmented data that make it impossible to effectively apply AI. This challenge is compounded by a retiring scientific workforce, putting companies at risk of losing years of institutional knowledge. We believe the industry is at a critical inflection point, where organizations that fail to upgrade legacy infrastructure will fall behind, while those that adopt modern systems will be poised to lead in the age of AI-driven innovation.

The “Uncountable” Benefits

Uncountable was founded by Noel Hollingsworth, Jason Hirshman, and Will Tashman, who envisioned a solution that would bring the power of AI to R&D teams. However, they recognized early on that without addressing the core data challenge, AI would never deliver value. In response, they set out to build the foundational infrastructure R&D teams needed: a centralized platform to manage experimental data and workflows.

Uncountable’s platform empowers researchers to capture scientific data in a standardized, structured format and collaborate seamlessly across global teams. Customers have reported over 30% reduction in lab development time driven by the ability to search prior experiments and eliminate duplication. The platform also enables companies to respond quickly to supply chain disruptions from AI-powered reformulations. As Uncountable cements its role in core R&D operations, its customers are pulling the product further into the innovation and production cycle, into categories like Quality Management (QMS) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).

Noel, Jason, and Will have demonstrated an impressive balance of domain, business and technology expertise. Over the past nine years, they’ve scaled Uncountable profitably to serve over 120 customers, which we attribute to the team’s deep understanding of customer needs. Our Senior Advisor and former CIO of Colgate-Palmolive, Mike Crowe, immediately recognized the value of Uncountable, having seen firsthand the data challenges facing enterprise R&D teams. As part of the investment, Caitlin Vorlicek and Mike Crowe are thrilled to join the board and support Uncountable’s growth through our network and go-to-market expertise. We’re proud to partner with Noel, Jason, and Will as they enter this next chapter.

1. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf24317