Vancouver-based computational chemistry startup Good Chemistry has been acquired by SandboxAQ.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources who spoke with The Wall Street Journal said the deal roughly amounted to $75 million USD in cash and stock.
Good Chemistry’s CEO will lead product for SandboxAQ’s simulation platform.
Good Chemistry is a spinout of Vancouver-based quantum startup 1QBit’s computational chemistry team. The startup officially launched as a new company in April 2022, and simultaneously announced an undisclosed amount of seed financing led by Green Sands Equity.
Good Chemistry uses artificial intelligence, quantum and other technologies to accelerate drug discovery and materials design. The startup has developed two software platforms: Qemist Cloud and Tangelo.
QEMIST Cloud is a platform aimed to enable high-accuracy, high-throughput quantum simulations on both classical and quantum computing hardware. Tangelo is an open-source software development kit that streamlines end-to-end chemistry workflows and accelerates experimentation across various quantum cloud providers and quantum hardware devices.
Following the acquisition, SandboxAQ plans to integrate Good Chemistry’s software, including QEMIST Cloud and Tangelo, into its enterprise software portfolio.
SandboxAQ, which provides AI and Quantum solutions to enterprise companies, said the deal will improve its existing computational chemistry and simulation capabilities, as well as bring in fresh talent and new industry insights to its operations. This marks SandboxAQ’s second acquisition to date.
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According to a statement released by both companies, Good Chemistry’s computational and quantum chemists, AI software developers, machine learning engineers, and quantum computing scientists will join the existing simulation teams at SandboxAQ.
Good Chemistry CEO Arman Zaribafiyan will become head of product for SandboxAQ’s simulation platform. Zaribafiyan was previously 1QBit’s CTO and the founder of its quantum simulation division.
“The rapid advances in AI, quantum, cloud and high-performance computing have unlocked endless opportunities for companies like Good Chemistry and SandboxAQ to reinvent the way we think about chemistry, discover ways to make products safer, stronger and more sustainable, and reshape the fabric of our world,” Zaribafiyan said in a statement, adding that SandboxAQ’s reach and domain expertise will “supercharge” the capabilities of Good Chemistry’s platform.
Feature image courtesy of Good Chemistry via Twitter.