What SandboxAQ does

SandboxAQ is a Palo Alto-based AI and quantum technology company that builds Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) — foundation models trained on physics-, chemistry-, and cryptography-grounded datasets — and applies them to drug discovery, materials science, post-quantum cybersecurity, magnetic navigation, and medical diagnostics. The product portfolio spans AQBio (including AQPotency for oncology and collaborations with biopharma partners such as MapLight, Aqemia, and UCB), AQChem (catalyst, battery, and energy-storage LQMs including AQCell and AQVolt26), AQtive Guard (a FedRAMP-authorized post-quantum cryptography and crypto-agility platform adopted by the U.S. Department of War and other federal customers), AQNav (a magnetic-anomaly navigation system for GPS-denied aerospace and defense environments), and AQMed (cardiovascular and metabolic disease diagnostics). The company was founded in 2016 as a unit of Alphabet, spun out in March 2022, and is led by CEO Jack Hidary with Eric Schmidt as Chairman.

SandboxAQ monetizes through a combination of enterprise SaaS subscriptions for cybersecurity and navigation, multi-year Frontier Partnerships (often milestone-based, multi-hundred-million-dollar collaborations) for drug and materials discovery, and government contracts including a $500M CHIPS R&D award and a five-year Department of War AQtive Guard enterprise deal. The May 2026 integration with Anthropic Claude via the Model Context Protocol introduces a usage-based, agent-mediated pricing surface in which LQMs are exposed as callable tools to external AI systems. The company reports more than 15 enterprise and government customers across pharmaceutical, industrial, defense, and federal civilian agencies, and has raised over $950 million in cumulative equity and non-dilutive funding at a valuation of approximately $5.75 billion as of April 2025.

Name

SandboxAQ

Legal name

SandboxAQ

Website

https://sandboxaq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

SandboxAQ builds Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) for drug discovery, materials science, post-quantum cybersecurity, magnetic navigation, and medical diagnostics, serving pharmaceutical, defense, federal, and industrial customers via enterprise SaaS, multi-year frontier partnerships, and MCP-integrated AI tooling.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI & Quantum Computing Platform

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

MLOps/LLMOps & Model Lifecycle Management Services (BPAEAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Model Testing, Validation & Quality Assurance (HDAAABAH), Annotation Tooling & Workflow Management (HDAAALAC), AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement (BPAEAAAJ)

Keywords

• Computational drug discovery
• Materials simulation software
• Post-quantum cryptography
• Magnetic navigation systems
• AI security posture management

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Enterprise SaaS / LQM Licensing: Recurring and usage-based licensing of Large Quantitative Models (LQMs), platform modules (AQtive Guard, AQBioSim, AQNav), and AI simulation software to large enterprise and government customers. Multiple deployment models including LQM-Enabled LLMs via MCP, Enterprise Licensing, and Frontier Partnerships.
2. Frontier Partnerships & Milestone Payments: Long-term shared-risk drug discovery alliances where SandboxAQ receives upfront payments plus milestone payments (e.g., up to $200M with MapLight Therapeutics for CNS disorder therapies) tied to clinical development and commercialization of compounds. SandboxAQ retains shared IP rights in some structures.
3. Government Grants & Federal R&D Awards: Non-dilutive federal funding including the $500 million CHIPS R&D award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, multi-year contracts with Department of War, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army DEVCOM, Bahrain sovereign wealth fund partnership ($1B target value), and other public sector engagements.
4. Hardware Sales (AQMed CardiAQ): Future revenue stream from sale of the CardiAQ magnetocardiography medical diagnostic device, currently classified as an investigational device limited by U.S. federal law to investigational use.
5. Strategic Equity Investment: SandboxAQ raised strategic equity from investors (e.g., Leclercq American Capital, NVIDIA, Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff, T. Rowe Price, Breyer Capital, IQT, In-Q-Tel) and accepted a minority non-voting equity stake for the U.S. Department of Commerce as part of the CHIPS award, with future royalty payments from commercially licensed formulas.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

SandboxAQ develops and licenses Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) — AI models that combine physics-based simulation with machine learning through a proprietary three-layer architecture of physics-grounded data generation, AI/physics model training, and automated design-make-test-learn workflows. These LQMs power enterprise and government solutions across five verticals: drug discovery (AQBioSim, AQState, AQAffinity), materials and chemicals discovery (AQCat25, ReAQT, AQVolt), AI and cryptography posture management (AQtive Guard, AQtive Guard AI-SPM, OpenCryptography.com), quantum magnetic navigation (AQNav), and medical diagnostics (AQMed/CardiAQ magnetocardiography device).

Product overview

SandboxAQ operates a platform-plus-modules architecture rather than a single unified product, anchored by its core Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) technology that combines physics-based simulation with machine learning. The LQM core powers a portfolio of vertical solutions: Drug Discovery (powered by AQBioSim, AQState, AQAffinity, NEX, and forthcoming AQPotency and AQCell modules), Material Discovery (powered by the ReAQT simulation platform and the AQCat25/AQCat25-EV2 catalyst models, AQChemSim, and AQVolt/AQVolt26 for batteries), AQMed with the CardiAQ magnetocardiography device for medical diagnostics, AQNav for GPS-denied quantum navigation, and AQtive Guard for cybersecurity and cryptography posture management (with sub-modules AQtive Guard Protect and AI-SPM). Supporting assets include OpenCryptography.com as a public cryptographic risk database, the SandboxAQ Residency and Scholarship programs for talent development, and the acquired Cryptosense technology now integrated into the cybersecurity offering. The LQMs are accessible to developers via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling integration with LLMs such as Anthropic's Claude.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AQNav: Next-generation Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (APNT) solution combining quantum sensing, AI, and Earth's magnetic field to provide navigation when GPS fails due to jamming, spoofing, or denial.
• AQMed
• AQtive Guard
• AQBioSim
• AQCat
• AQVolt
• ReAQT

Products and services

• Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) Core AI platform combining physics-based simulation with machine learning through a three-layer architecture: (1) physics-grounded data generation, (2) proprietary AI and physics model training, and (3) automated design-make-test-learn (DMTL) workflows. Licensed to enterprise and government customers via LQM-Enabled LLMs (MCP), Enterprise Licensing, and Frontier Partnerships.
• Drug Discovery End-to-end AI-driven drug discovery solution for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, providing molecular profiling, GPCR virtual screening, binding affinity prediction, and candidate identification. Customers include Sanofi, Flagship Pioneering, MapLight Therapeutics, UCSF, KU Leuven, and Riboscience.
• Material Discovery AI-driven materials and chemicals discovery solution covering catalysts, PFAS-free process chemicals, rare earth-free magnets, battery materials, and semiconductor substrates. Backed by proprietary datasets including AQCat25 (13.5 million DFT calculations across 47,000 catalyst systems) and 2M+ hours of battery testing data.
• AQMed (with CardiAQ device) Medical diagnostics platform with the CardiAQ device for contactless, radiation-free cardiac diagnostics. Leverages LQMs and high-performance magnetocardiography sensors. Currently classified as an investigational device limited by U.S. federal law to investigational use. Clinical collaborations with Mount Sinai, Mayo Clinic, and UCSF.
• AQNav GPS-free quantum magnetic navigation solution for military, commercial aviation, autonomous vehicles, and drones. Uses Earth's magnetic field as a passive, unspoofable alternative to satellite-based GPS. Active U.S. Air Force and Airbus (Acubed) engagements.
• AQtive Guard Cryptography and AI Security Posture Management platform that discovers, analyzes, and secures cryptographic assets and AI systems across enterprise environments. Addresses 'harvest now, decrypt later' threats, Shadow AI risks, and post-quantum cryptography migration. Five-year deployment contract with the U.S. Department of War; deployed across 60+ Bahrain NCSC environments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20,000x faster than first-principles simulation for catalyst screening
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers21 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability13 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

27 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• AnthropicflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSandboxAQ integrated its Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) with Anthropic's Claude AI via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling drug discovery and materials science simulations through natural language prompts. First model available via integration: AQCat Adsorption Spin for catalyst discovery, with drug discovery models AQPotency and AQCell expected to follow. Announced May 18, 2026.
• U.S. Department of Commerce — CHIPS Research and Development OfficeflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner$500 million CHIPS R&D award for developing critical formulations for American semiconductor manufacturing using physics-based AI. Funds R&D across PFAS-free process chemicals, catalysts, rare earth-free magnets, and battery systems. Department of Commerce receives minority, non-voting equity stake plus future royalty payments from commercially licensed formulas. Definitive agreement signed June 17, 2026.
• U.S. Department of War (DoW) Chief Information OfficerflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFive-year agreement to deploy AQtive Guard platform for automated cryptographic discovery and inventory across the DoW environment, supporting managed transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography. Builds on prior DISA Emerging Technology QRC PKI prototype work. Announced December 11, 2025.
• NVIDIAflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed AQCat workflows built on 13.5 million high-fidelity chemistry calculations using approximately 400,000 GPU-hours on NVIDIA DGX Cloud with H100 cards. Achieved 20,000x faster catalyst screening than first-principles simulation. NVIDIA also a SandboxAQ investor.
• U.S. Air ForceflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerAQNav magnetic navigation has been tested by the U.S. Air Force across 200+ sorties and 500+ flight hours, supporting tactical missions and commercial aviation in GPS-denied environments. Multiple milestones completed with the USAF.
• U.S. Army DEVCOM / C5ISR CenterflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on AI-driven battery health monitoring; compiled over 2 million hours of lab and simulated testing data on lithium-ion batteries, achieving 90% reduction in battery testing time and over 90% compression of shelf-life qualification timelines.
• Mumtalakat (Bahrain Sovereign Wealth Fund)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThree-year strategic partnership to catalyze Bahrain's biotech ecosystem, with goal of creating over $1 billion in value. Will use AI and quantum computing for drug discovery, leveraging Bahrain's health datasets and infrastructure. Announced October 27, 2025.
• MapLight TherapeuticsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic collaboration to develop first-in-class therapies for CNS disorders, focusing on a novel G protein-coupled receptor target. SandboxAQ receives upfront payment plus milestone payments up to $200 million. MapLight retains exclusive clinical development and commercialization rights. Announced December 16, 2025.
• UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative DiseasesflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration demonstrating how LQMs can compress neurodegenerative disease research timelines from years to months using AQBioSim for molecular profiling and drug candidate discovery. Recognized at WEF AMNC 2025 as part of MINDS programme.
• AccenturecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartner in the PFAS bond-breaking chemistry simulation project (alongside AWS and Intel); broader consulting/SI channel relationship.
• DeloittecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerGlobal SI consulting partner supporting SandboxAQ deployments across enterprise customers.
• EY (Ernst & Young US)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerStrategic alliance extended to accelerate adoption of advanced cryptographic and AI security solutions. Announced August 5, 2025.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology and integration partner. Also a co-founding member of the Post-Quantum Cryptography Coalition alongside IBM, MITRE, PQShield, and University of Waterloo.
• Google CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology and integration partner for SandboxAQ cloud-based deployments.
• ServiceNowcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology and integration partner for workflow and security operations.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationCloud infrastructure partner; co-developed the first near-exact simulation of toxic PFAS bond-breaking chemistry across more than 1.1 million vCPUs alongside Intel and Accenture; also partnered on largest organometallic catalyst ever computed at near-exact accuracy with DIC.
• CarahsoftcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublic sector distribution partner for SandboxAQ's cybersecurity and AI-enabled quantum solutions in the U.S. public sector market. Announced January 4, 2024.
• Help AGcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMiddle East channel partner for distribution of SandboxAQ's cybersecurity and AI solutions.
• Acubed (Airbus)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to explore quantum sensing as an autonomy enabler and achieve progress in magnetic navigation for aerospace. AQNav development for autonomous aircraft.
• Saudi AramcocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership exploring how quantum AI can help turn captured CO2 into valuable products. Covered in Q&A with SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary by Rest of World.
• NOVONIXcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContributed over 4 million hours of cell cycling data to train SandboxAQ's battery lifetime prediction models, enabling end-of-life predictions with mean absolute error of just 11 cycles using only 40 cycles of data.
• Mayo CliniccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative research examining the relationship between MCG (magnetocardiography) and angiography findings using the CardiAQ device.
• Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member alongside IBM Quantum, Microsoft, MITRE, PQShield, and University of Waterloo (launched September 27, 2023). Coalition accelerates adoption of NIST's post-quantum cryptography algorithms and promotes global transition to quantum-resistant encryption.
• OpenFold ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContributed to OpenFold3, an open-source biomolecular co-folding model released by the consortium to promote drug discovery and design. SandboxAQ also launched AQAffinity built on OpenFold3. Joined in August 2024 alongside Astex, Biogen, Congruence, Polaris Quantum, and Psivant.
• DIC CorporationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with AWS to simulate the largest organometallic catalyst ever computed at near-exact quantum accuracy, making high-fidelity quantum chemistry practical at industrially relevant molecular scale.
• Enquantum LtdminorOthersReliance Global Group agreement with Enquantum Ltd to address growing global cybersecurity standards (mentioned alongside SandboxAQ in quantum-ready business context).
• Bahrain National Cyber Security Center (NCSC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to modernize national cybersecurity and prepare for quantum computing disruptions. Deploying SandboxAQ's AI-driven AQtive Guard platform across over 60 government and private-sector environments. Announced December 23, 2025.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@sandboxaq
• Xx.com/sandboxaq
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sandboxaq

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors26 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SandboxAQ