AQEMIA

French company AQEMIA designs drug candidates for critical diseases leveraging its quantum and statistical mechanics algorithms. In contrast to AI platforms that rely on experimental data for training, AQEMIA takes a different approach to drug discovery by generating its own data using specialized quantum physics algorithms developed over 12 years of research at Oxford, Cambridge, and École Normale Supérieure (ENS). The company’s algorithms are reportedly 10,000x faster than existing ones.

Aqemia's drug discovery pipeline includes multiple projects, ranging from hit generation to vivo assays (therapeutic areas undisclosed), both in-house and collaborative programs. 

Key customers and partnerships

The company secured partnerships with Big Pharma companies such as Sanofi (initiated in 2020 and extended in June 2022) to design and discover molecules in oncology. The duo also joined a USD 140 million multi-year collaboration in December 2023 to expand focus to various other therapeutic areas. 

The company also partnered with Janssen in February 2022 to predict the potency of small molecules for specific targets in drug discovery projects.

Funding and financials

In an extended Series A round in January 2024 (initial round held in October 2022 ) led by Wendel Growth, with participation from Bpifrance, Elaia, and others, Aqemia raised EUR 30 million (~USD 33 million), bringing the total Series A funds to EUR 60 million (USD 65 million). The funds were used to expand the progress of AQEMIA's proprietary pipeline of drug discovery projects.