Palo Alto, CA, March 22, 2022 – Sandbox AQ, an enterprise SaaS company delivering solutions that leverage quantum tech and AI, officially launched today and announced its investors, board chair, partners, advisors and initial customers. AQ stands for AI and Quantum, two key tools Sandbox uses to address pressing global challenges.
Founded by serial entrepreneur and CEO Jack D. Hidary, Sandbox’s team and inspiration began at Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) from 2016 through 2022. Sandbox AQ is developing commercial products for telcom, financial services, healthcare, government, computer security and other computationally-intensive sectors. The company’s 55 engineers, scientists and technologists collaborate from a broad range of fields – physics, chemistry, AI, neuroscience, cryptography, mathematics and other disciplines – to develop practical solutions for a broad range of use cases.
Sandbox AQ’s vision has attracted some of the world’s top business leaders including Eric Schmidt, who is now chairman of Sandbox AQ’s board of directors.
Sandbox AQ completed an oversubscribed funding round from Breyer Capital, Eric Schmidt, Thomas Tull (Founder & CEO of Tulco, LLC), First Light Capital Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Guggenheim Investments, led by Scott Minerd, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, David Siegel (co-founder of Two Sigma), Bradley M. Bloom (co-founder and former Managing Director of Berkshire Partners LLC), Section 32, Parkway Venture Capital and other leading funds. The company will deploy the capital to hire additional AI experts, physicists and engineers to further develop and deliver its AI and quantum technologies. The company’s global customer base includes: Vodafone Business, Softbank Mobile, Mt. Sinai Health System, and relationships with other leading Global 1000 companies including Wix.
Sandbox AQ is developing and deploying hardware, applications and services that leverage global-scale artificial intelligence and machine learning infrastructures together with quantum technologies that, until very recently, were limited to scientific papers and advanced research facilities. These products include post-quantum cryptography modules to enable global companies to transition to a more secure cyber architecture.
“The gravity of the geopolitical climate necessitates that we develop stronger cybersecurity platforms for companies and governments. In addition to cybersecurity, quantum tech and AI working together have a powerful compound effect we call AQ, which can impact areas such as drug development, clean energy and data security,” said Jack D. Hidary, CEO of Sandbox AQ. “We have built an ecosystem of partners, customers, government agencies and university relationships to drive this mission forward at scale.”
“The convergence of quantum and AI technologies is already transforming entire industries, accelerating scientific discovery and reimagining what we thought was possible,” said Schmidt. “By developing commercially viable, quantum technologies using a combination of today’s high-performance computing power and emerging quantum platforms, Sandbox AQ is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation at scale for global impact. Jack is a world-class leader who has both the technical vision as well as the business acumen to deliver on this roadmap and he has built a strong team to execute this mission. I am excited for this journey as Board Chair and investor in Sandbox AQ.”
“Jack is a unique entrepreneur who combines strong vision, technical depth and pragmatic execution – the kind that comes only a few times in a generation – and we are proud to back him at Breyer Capital. During the past five years, I have made over 20 investments in AI; many already having a profound positive impact on fields such as medicine and healthcare. The impact that quantum technology will have on communications, healthcare, finance and other sectors will be as large if not larger,” said Jim Breyer, Founder & CEO of Breyer Capital. “While many quantum companies are focusing on computing hardware development, Sandbox AQ is solving real-world challenges and delivering applications to customers right now.”
“I’m investing in Jack and Sandbox AQ because of the scalability of its enterprise software,” said Marc Benioff, TIME Ventures. “Jack is emulating the way Salesforce.com harnessed the cloud computing era and applying it to the quantum technology era.”
“Guggenheim’s investment in Sandbox on behalf of our clients continues the Guggenheim family tradition of supporting transformational technologies and the innovators who bring them about,” said Scott Minerd, Chairman of Guggenheim Investments. `“Quantum-based solutions in medicine, encryption and navigation will usher in a new era and Guggenheim is excited to be part of this pioneering venture.”
Sandbox AQ is working closely with its faculty partners at leading universities to invest in PhD students and host postdocs. The company has trained graduate students from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Max Planck Institute, Caltech, UC Berkeley, Columbia, ASU, Yale and other leading institutions.
Sandbox AQ’s unique approach, potential market impact, total addressable market and solid executive leadership has attracted prominent and highly regarded individuals across a broad range of industries to join its advisory board which include:
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Eric Schmidt – Co-founder, Schmidt Futures and former Chairman and CEO of Alphabet
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Jim Breyer – Founder & CEO, Breyer Capital
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Thomas Tull – Founder & CEO of Tulco, LLC; former Founder & CEO of Legendary Entertainment
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Marc Porat – Visionary serial entrepreneur of six ventures including General Magic and PlanetX
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Wendy Tan White – CEO, Intrinsic, former VP at X, the moonshot factory
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Dr. Taher Elgamal – CTO, Security at Salesforce.com; Co-founder of Nok Nok Labs and InfoSec Global; renowned cryptographer hailed as the “father of SSL”
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Marc Porat – Visionary serial entrepreneur of six ventures including General Magic and PlanetX
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Dr. Yossi Matias – Vice President, Engineering & Research, at Google
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Dr. Andrew Conrad – CEO, Verily and Co-founder of the National Genetics Institute
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Scott Minerd, Chief Investment Officer, Guggenheim Partners
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Dr. Fei-Fei Li – Sequoia Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University; former VP/Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud
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Dr. Ashton Carter – Former U.S. Secretary of Defense; currently Director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard University’s Harvard Kennedy School
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Susan M. Gordon – Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
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Admiral Mike Rogers – Retired Admiral, former Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, and Director, National Security Agency; currently Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor in the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute at Northwestern University
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Admiral John Richardson – Retired Admiral and former Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy
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Blythe Masters – Founding Partner at Motive Partners
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David Siegel – Co-founder and co-CEO, Two Sigma; board member, MIT
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Frank Vettese – Co-founder, SummitNorth capital and advisory firm; former CEO of Deloitte
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Andrew Harrison – Managing Partner, Section 32; former X, the moonshot factory and Verily executive
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John Seely Brown – Former Independent Co-Chair of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge; former Amazon board member and Chief Scientist, Xerox PARC
About Sandbox AQ
Sandbox AQ is an enterprise SaaS company delivering solutions at the nexus of quantum tech and AI. Based in Palo Alto, the inspiration for Sandbox AQ and some of the team originated at Alphabet Inc. in 2016. Sandbox AQ launched as an independent, venture-backed entity in 2022. For more information: www.sandboxaq.com.
