What SOLVE does

SOLVE Chemistry is a London-based AI-driven chemistry research and development company spun out of Imperial College London in 2024 as the first joint spin-out from the BASF-Imperial College London partnership that began in 2019. The company combines a proprietary ultra-high-throughput automated laboratory — equipped with online UHPLCs for concentration measurement and capable of collecting chemical reaction data 20 times faster than traditional methods — with interpretive machine learning models to deliver micro-kinetic models and quantitative yield data to pharmaceutical and agrochemical process development teams. Specific deliverables include FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) datasets, micro-kinetic models produced 50 times faster than standard approaches, and complete response surfaces for solvent optimization delivered in two weeks rather than three months.

The company operates a professional services revenue model with direct enterprise field sales targeting process development teams at major pharmaceutical and agrochemical firms. Named customers include BASF (also strategic partner and initial sponsor), AstraZeneca (N-Acylation kinetics case study), and GSK (pericyclic reaction cascade solvent study using the GSK green score). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; engagements span custom experimental campaigns, micro-kinetic modeling, and scale-up prediction. Distribution relies on direct technical consultation, peer-reviewed publications in ACS, RSC, and NeurIPS venues, conference presence, and ecosystem partnerships with reactor and analytics vendors (Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik, Mettler-Toledo, JMP, AiChemy).

SOLVE has raised approximately £4.85 million in equity across a May 2024 pre-seed led by Creator Fund with Chemovator participation and a January 2026 seed round of £4 million led by XTX Ventures with SuperSeed, Creator Fund, and Endgame Capital. The company also participates in a £7 million Innovate UK grant consortium led by Exactmer for bio-based solvents in medicines manufacturing. The team of 15-20 members is led by founders Dr Linden Schrecker (CEO) and Dr Jose Pablo Folch (CSO), with advisors from Imperial College catalysis and chemical engineering faculty and BASF senior principal scientists. Operations are headquartered at Imperial's White City deep tech campus at Scale Space, 58 Wood Lane, London, W12 7RZ.

Name

SOLVE

Legal name

SOLVE Chemistry

Website

https://solvechemistry.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SOLVE Chemistry is a London-based AI-driven chemistry R&D spinout from Imperial College London that accelerates pharmaceutical and agrochemical process development by combining ultra-high-throughput automated laboratory data collection with proprietary machine learning models.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-Driven Chemistry R&D

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

CMC & Pharmaceutical Development (Formulation/Process/Analytical Development) (HLAIALAD), Small-Molecule API Process Development & Route Scouting (HLAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Chemistry process optimization
• High-throughput experimentation
• Machine learning chemistry
• Pharmaceutical R&D services
• Kinetic modeling platform

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Chemical Process Development Services: Provides kinetic insights and quantitative yield data to pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies for accelerating process development of organic synthesis. Revenue derived from service engagements involving experimental data collection, micro-kinetic modeling, and process optimization consulting.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SOLVE Chemistry provides an AI-driven chemistry R&D platform for pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies, combining an ultra-high-throughput automated laboratory with proprietary machine learning models. The platform collects quantitative chemical reaction data 20x faster than traditional methods and delivers kinetic insights, micro-kinetic models, FAIR data outputs, and solvent optimization response surfaces to accelerate process development for organic synthesis.

Product overview

SOLVE operates across two distinct product lines: SOLVE Px is a pre-trade data and predictive pricing platform for fixed income markets offering AI-powered Confidence Score metrics across corporate and municipal bonds; SOLVE Chemistry is an AI-driven chemistry R&D platform spun out from Imperial College London that provides high-throughput data collection and machine learning for pharmaceutical and agrochemical process development. Both leverage proprietary AI models and automated data collection to deliver faster, more confident decision-making in their respective domains.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI-Driven Chemistry R&D Platform A high-throughput data collection and machine learning platform for pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies that delivers kinetic insights and quantitative yield data in FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) format. Designed for enterprise process development teams who need to accelerate organic synthesis development, make scale-up decisions with confidence, and explore trade-offs between yield, cost, and sustainability.

Quantifiable outcome

• Chemical reaction data collected 20 times faster than traditional methods
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Exactmer (UK Consortium Lead)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 March 2026Part of UK consortium led by Exactmer that received over £7 million in Innovate UK funding. The consortium includes technology providers, pharmaceutical companies, and research organizations working to industrialize low-greenhouse gas solvents and validate their use in pharmaceutical production.
• Imperial College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 February 2026Parent institution and strategic partner since 2019. SOLVE Chemistry originated from this partnership as their first joint university spin-out. The partnership has supported 35 PhD students and produced numerous patents and new technologies. Imperial's White City deep tech campus hosted the company's initial development after receiving BASF sponsorship.
• BASFcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 February 2026Major strategic partner and customer. Provided initial sponsorship at Imperial College's White City campus. The partnership began in 2019 and has led to multiple patents and new technologies. BASF continues as a customer and partner in chemical manufacturing innovation including low-greenhouse gas solvent development.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Cyclica: AI-driven drug discovery company using ML and biophysics for polypharmacology and property prediction. Comparable as an emerging AI-chemistry player, though focused upstream on drug discovery rather than downstream process development.

Direct peers

• AiChemy: Listed as a technology partner on SOLVE's site. AiChemy is an early-stage AI/chemistry company targeting similar process optimization and predictive chemistry use cases for pharma and chemical customers, making it the most directly comparable peer in SOLVE's own ecosystem.
• Citrine Informatics: AI platform for materials and chemical R&D, providing data infrastructure, informatics, and ML models to accelerate formulation and process development. Closely comparable to SOLVE in target market (specialty chemicals, pharma) and value proposition (AI-powered chemistry R&D acceleration), though broader in scope across materials.

Broad incumbents

• Benchling: Cloud-based R&D platform providing ELN, LIMS, and workflow tools for biotech and pharma R&D. Targets the same enterprise customer personas as SOLVE and competes for process-development software budgets, though Benchling is a horizontal lab informatics layer rather than a chemistry-AI specialist.
• Insilico Medicine: AI drug discovery and development company operating an end-to-end Pharma.AI platform from target identification to clinical development. Overlaps with SOLVE in AI for chemistry but is much broader in scope and significantly better capitalized.
• Schrödinger: Public computational chemistry platform offering physics-based simulation and ML for drug discovery and materials. Overlaps with SOLVE on ML-driven chemistry insight generation but addresses a much broader discovery-to-process workflow with deeper pharma penetration and substantially more capital.
• IBM RXN: IBM's AI chemistry platform offering retrosynthesis prediction and reaction outcome modeling. Targets similar pharma and chemistry customers with predictive ML, but is a freely available research tool rather than an integrated automated-lab service, and lacks SOLVE's hardware-based data generation moat.
• Dotmatics: Scientific informatics platform spanning ELN, LIMS, and chemistry data management for pharma R&D. Comparable in serving pharma process-development teams with data and workflow software, though Dotmatics is a much larger established vendor focused on data infrastructure rather than automated experimentation.
• AMRI (Eurofins Discovery): Large CRO/CDMO offering contract process chemistry and API development services to pharma. Represents the traditional incumbent alternative to SOLVE's automated-lab offering, with deeper existing relationships and global footprint but slower, more manual workflows.

Others

• CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service): Provider of chemistry data, informatics, and predictive tools to R&D organizations. Adjacent rather than directly competitive — CAS supplies data and search infrastructure that complements rather than replaces SOLVE's automated-lab data generation stack.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/solve-chemistry

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors7 records

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about SOLVE