SandboxAQ
SandboxAQ builds large quantitative models — AI trained not on text, but on the physics and chemistry of the physical world. Where a language model learns from what people have written, an LQM learns from equations, simulations and sensor readings, which suits it to problems where the right answer is a matter of physics rather than opinion.
That has carried the company into four markets that look unrelated but rest on the same foundation. In drug discovery, its models predict how strongly a molecule will bind to its target, work now running with AstraZeneca and Sanofi. In navigation, AQNav reads the Earth's magnetic field to fly without GPS, and has been flight-tested with the US Air Force, Boeing and Airbus. In cardiac care, CardiAQ is being studied with Mayo Clinic as a non-invasive alternative to angiography. And in security, its Security Suite helps banks and governments replace the encryption that tomorrow's quantum computers will break.
We were the first venture fund to invest after the company spun out of Alphabet, and we have backed every round since.
2022
SandboxAQ spins out of Alphabet. Parkway becomes its first venture investor.
2024
AQNav flight-tested with the US Air Force, Boeing and Airbus, and named to TIME's Best Inventions. CardiAQ enters study with Mayo Clinic.
2026
SandboxAQ's models become available inside Anthropic's Claude, and AQAffinity launches for high-speed drug-potency prediction.
2023
Raises $500M. Launches the Security Suite for post-quantum cryptography and AQBioSim for drug discovery.
2025
$450M Series E, joined by NVIDIA, Google, BNP Paribas and Ray Dalio.
Partnering with SandboxAQ from inception.
Parkway was the first venture capital fund to invest in SandboxAQ, after its spin out from Google. Being one of their earliest and largest backers, means we have a very strong relationship with Jack Hidary and Eric Schmidt.
Parkway had been looking for an investment opportunity in the quantum computing space, but was unconvinced by the many other opportunities. In 2021, Parkway was introduced to SandboxAQ’s CEO, Jack Hidary, and immediately it became clear that the business was fit for Parkway’s investment strategy. SandboxAQ focussed on quantum software, rather than hardware, already had products it was selling, as well as paying customers.
Parkway’s conviction level of conviction on the business and the management team resulted in a $45M investment from Parkway’s funds and co-investors, making Parkway the first VC Fund to invest in Sandbox, and one of the company’s largest shareholders.
Parkway’s know-how, and ability to understand SandboxAQ’s technology, helped build the relationship, and the level of our investment cemented it.
Parkway was the first VC Fund to back us and has been an integral partner in our global growth strategy. Without Parkway, we would not be in the same place today.
Jack Hidary
CEO, SandboxAQ
