Quantum Startup Sandbox AQ Raises $500 Million in Funding Round

Quantum computing startup Sandbox AQ has raised $500 million in funding with plans to help customers get ready for a future of quantum computing. 

Participants of the funding round include Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price funds and Salesforce Inc. and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures. 

Sandbox AQ is led by CEO Jack Hidary, who previously worked in quantum computing research at Alphabet’s X lab. The company’s main goal is to build post-quantum cryptography software that scan the systems of companies to find out the parts that use old cryptography, identify which among them need to be replaced, and fortify its encryptions. 

"Right now, you have a lot of banks and pharma companies and governments still using these old protocols... The average bank takes five to seven years to migrate over,” Hidary explained. 

The high-profile startup which spun off Alphabet Inc last year also sells powerful simulation software as a way of speeding up the development of drugs and materials.  

Hidary shared that this software does not require quantum computers to work.  According to the CEO, chips made for artificial intelligence have become powerful enough to run the math for quantum physics. However, when the quantum computers are ready for use, it can speed up the whole process even further.  

Quantum computers, with processors running on quantum mechanics, are believed to one day outrun today’s most fastest supercomputers.