SandboxAQ Secures $300M to Drive Large Quantitative Model Innovation

SandboxAQ has announced more than $300 million in funding to accelerate the development of its large quantitative models (LQMs) and other AI applications.

The funding round, led by Fred Alger Management, T. Rowe Price and Breyer Capital, values the company at $5.3 billion on a pre-money basis.

LQMs are designed to solve complex science and business problems across industries that need to process vast amounts of numerical or scientific data, unlike large language models (LLMs), which process natural language.

"Large quantitative models are the next wave of AI as they provide a powerful ability to solve science and business problems for large industries including aerospace, biopharma, chemicals, defense, energy, finance and more.” said SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary.

“The capital raise we are announcing today gives us additional resources to drive deep impact at scale. LLMs and LQMs are complementary platforms that are both needed in the world of B2B applications. We are pleased to see the commitment of so many long-term investors in SandboxAQ."

Breakthroughs Across Sectors

SandboxAQ announced the investment in the context of its 2024 achievements across different applications.

Health Care and Biopharma: The AQBioSim division accelerated drug discovery for neurod egenerative diseases and expanded collaborations with top academic institutions and biopharma companies. Its new generative AI tool, IDOLPro, designs drug molecules to optimize clinical development.

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Materials Science: SandboxAQ’s AQChemSim division enhanced material design capabilities, achieving breakthroughs in lithium-ion battery life prediction and catalytic activity for chemical manufacturing. Partnerships with Nvidia and Novonix boosted computational efficiency and data accuracy.

Navigation and Aerospace: The AQNav system, which uses quantum sensors for GPS-free navigation, reached milestones with the U.S. Air Force and secured a contract extension for broader aircraft applications.

Medical Devices: The CardiAQ investigational device aims to revolutionize cardiac diagnostics through magnetocardiography, with clinical research collaborations at leading institutions like Mayo Clinic and UCSF Medical Center.

Cybersecurity: The AQtive Guard cryptography solution expanded deployments in financial services and life sciences through a partnership with Accenture.

Investors, including AI luminary Yann LeCun, emphasized the transformative potential of SandboxAQ’s technologies.

"I am investing in SandboxAQ because of their industry-leading approach to quantitative AI," said LeCun.

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"While LLMs are very helpful tools for consumers, it is quantitative AI that will define work in large sectors of the economy including biopharma, chemicals and financial services. I am impressed by the technical depth of Jack and his team and am excited to support their work. SandboxAQ has emerged as a leader in novel applications of AI that solve the most pressing challenges in the world and their technical success is impressive."