ExploreAI

What ExploreAI does

ExploreAI, doing business as SAND (Sand Tech Inc), is a private software company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, with additional offices in Palo Alto, New York, and London. It builds AI-driven software and digital twins for global critical infrastructure operators, with the firm's stated short description emphasizing impact at scale through AI-driven software and digital twins for global companies. Its flagship product is SandOS, a unified operating system and intelligence layer that applies a three-stage decision stack — Sense (continuous ingestion from sensors, SCADA, enterprise systems, and external feeds), Analyze (consequence modeling, physics-aware simulation, AI prediction, operational context), and Act (configurable autonomy from human-in-the-loop to full automation). The platform is designed to integrate alongside existing customer systems rather than replace them, with cloud, hybrid, and on-premise deployment options to satisfy regulated infrastructure data sovereignty requirements.

SandOS is deployed across more than 18 countries in water utilities, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, smart cities, wastewater, and disaster recovery use cases, with named enterprise and government customers including Southern Company, Thames Water, Severn Trent, Telkomsel, MTN, and the City of St. Louis. The company markets published outcomes such as 31,000 km of network under unified visibility, an approximately £7M outage avoided, $10–50M of annual value unlocked in telecom, 20–45% PM2.5 reduction on smart-city corridors, and a stated record of zero mission-critical failures. Adjacent offerings include the SandOS Marketplace for curated sensor and hardware procurement, Consequence Models for risk and resource planning, configurable Autonomy Levels, and a Partner Ecosystem for system integrators and implementation partners.

The business model is enterprise field sales against large regulated infrastructure operators, with a "Request Demo" conversion CTA, quote-based pricing tailored to deployment scale and infrastructure complexity, and distribution supplemented by an SI/implementation partner channel and the SandOS Marketplace. Revenue, contract values, funding history, and ownership structure are not publicly disclosed; the firm employs 101–250 staff globally, and pricing is not publicly listed.

Name

ExploreAI

Legal name

SAND

Website

https://explore.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

ExploreAI (operating as SAND) builds the SandOS platform — an AI-driven decision stack for sense-analyze-act control of critical infrastructure — and sells it via enterprise field sales to utilities, telcos, energy operators, governments, and health systems across 18+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Critical Infrastructure AI Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

SCADA/HMI Platforms (IMAGABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Online Monitoring, Sensors & Instrumentation (SCADA-integrated analyzers, probes, samplers) (EUANAJAC), SCADA, Instrumentation & Controls Integration for Water/Wastewater Projects (IMAFAGAK)

Keywords

• Critical infrastructure management
• Physical AI platform
• Utility network optimization
• Operational intelligence software
• SCADA integrated analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ExploreAI (doing business as SAND / Sand Tech Inc) builds SandOS, a unified operating system and intelligence layer for critical infrastructure. The platform ingests real-time and historical signals from sensors, SCADA systems, enterprise systems, and external feeds; applies physics-aware simulation, consequence modeling, and AI prediction; and routes intelligence into control layers via configurable autonomy levels from human-in-the-loop to full automation. The core product is sold to enterprise and government infrastructure operators in water, energy, telecom, healthcare, and smart city sectors globally.

Product overview

SAND offers SandOS as a unified platform for physical AI in critical infrastructure management. The core offering is the SandOS Platform, a unified operating system with three operational stages: Sense (continuous data ingestion from sensors, SCADA, and enterprise systems), Analyze (simulation and decision layers using consequence models, physics-aware simulation, and AI prediction), and Act (routing intelligence into control layers with configurable autonomy levels from human-in-the-loop to full automation). The platform is augmented by the SandOS Marketplace for sensor/hardware procurement and pre-built domain applications. Deployed across 18+ countries in water, energy, telecom, healthcare, and government sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SandOS Platform A unified operating system for managing and controlling complex infrastructure systems, deployed across telecom networks, water utilities, energy systems, healthcare facilities, and smart city applications. Features a three-layer decision stack (Sense, Analyze, Act), configurable autonomy levels, auditable recommendations, and cloud, hybrid, or on-premise deployment options. Designed for enterprise and government infrastructure operators globally.
• SandOS Marketplace A curated marketplace within the SandOS platform where operators procure sensors and hardware for incremental instrumentation deployment. Enables organizations to purchase a curated selection of sensors and hardware to expand their infrastructure monitoring capabilities in support of progressive data maturity.

Quantifiable outcome

• Unlocked $10-50M annual value in telecommunications; +8-15% traffic without new infrastructure
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Southern CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSouthern Company is featured as a customer logo on the SandTech website, indicating a deployment relationship for energy infrastructure management. Southern Company is one of the largest energy utilities in the United States.
• Thames WatercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThames Water is featured as a customer logo, indicating a deployment relationship for water utility infrastructure management. Thames Water is the UK's largest water and wastewater services company.
• TelkomselcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTelkomsel is featured as a customer logo, indicating a deployment relationship for telecommunications network management. Telkomsel is one of the largest telecom operators in Southeast Asia.
• MTNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMTN is featured as a customer logo, indicating a deployment relationship for telecommunications network management. MTN is one of the largest telecom operators in Africa and the Middle East.
• Severn TrentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSevern Trent is featured as a customer logo, indicating a deployment relationship for water utility infrastructure management. Severn Trent is a major UK water and wastewater company.
• City of St. LouiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity of St. Louis is featured as a customer logo, indicating a deployment relationship for municipal infrastructure management in the government sector.
• Partner EcosystemcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFormal partner ecosystem with dedicated partner ecosystem page and partner onboarding form. Includes implementation partners and system integrators that deploy SandOS within customer environments.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• C3.ai: C3.ai provides enterprise AI software for industrial, energy, and infrastructure operators, with a pre-built model + platform architecture very comparable to SandOS's decision stack serving utilities and similar critical infrastructure verticals.
• Samsara: Samsara delivers IoT sensor data and operational analytics for physical operations, including utilities and public sector, making it a direct functional peer to SandOS's sensor + intelligence layer for critical infrastructure.
• Augury: Augury builds AI-driven asset health and process optimization for industrial operations, directly comparable to SandOS's Anomaly, Burst Detection, and Predictive Maintenance capabilities across infrastructure assets.
• SparkCognition: SparkCognition provides AI solutions for industrial asset management, OT cybersecurity, and predictive maintenance, overlapping directly with SandOS's industrial AI, anomaly detection, and infrastructure focus.
• Uptake: Uptake offers industrial AI and asset intelligence for infrastructure, rail, and fleet operators; their data-driven operational platform is closely analogous to SandOS's industrial intelligence stack.

Broad incumbents

• Siemens Digital Industries (MindSphere / Xcelerator): Siemens bundles MindSphere/Xcelerator with its industrial automation and SCADA portfolio, competing with SandOS as a broader incumbent offering that spans sensing, control, and analytics for the same infrastructure customers.
• GE Digital (Predix): GE Digital's Predix asset performance and industrial analytics suite overlaps with SandOS's consequences models, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics for power, water, and telecom operators.
• Honeywell Forge: Honeywell Forge is an enterprise performance and OT analytics platform for process and infrastructure operators, directly competing with SandOS in regulated industrial and utility environments.
• ABB Ability: ABB Ability provides industrial IoT, analytics, and control solutions for utilities and process industries, comparable to SandOS as a broader incumbent targeting the same critical infrastructure customer base.

Emerging players

• BrainBox AI: BrainBox AI applies AI to building and district-level infrastructure optimization, sharing SandOS's physical AI approach for critical infrastructure but focused on built environments rather than utility-scale networks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/explore_ai
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@SandTechInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sandtechinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 ExploreAI