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XtalPi
We are a quantum physics-based, AI-powered drug R&D company with the mission to revolutionize drug discovery and development by improving the speed, scale,...
XtalPi
We are a quantum physics-based, AI-powered drug R&D company with the mission to revolutionize drug discovery and development by improving the speed, scale, novelty and success rate. With operations in both China and the U.S., we strive to deploy the best capabilities and resources available to us in each market to meet the needs of our customers and collaborators. Beyond our team’s domain expertise and creative thinking, the key to our mission is the integrated technology platform, which combines the mutually informing and reinforcing cloud supercomputing-powered in silico tools and our wet lab with robotic automation, and enables discovery and development of innovative therapeutics at a pace and scale beyond traditional alternatives. We are among the pioneering AI-powered drug R&D companies in the world that have established a platform with an iterative feedback loop between quantum physics-based dry lab and wet lab capabilities, according to Frost & Sullivan. With our platform designed to improve dry lab calculations with experimental data generated by the wet lab and enhance the efficiency of the wet lab by insights derived from dry lab calculations, we believe that we are well positioned at this moment where the combination of AI, computing power, data and automation is becoming increasingly critical for pharmaceutical development. Since our founding, we have received investments and support from world-renowned investors, and we believe this blue-chip shareholder base is a testament to our capabilities and prospects.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2015
Location
Region
Asia
Country
China
City
Shenzhen
Corporate office
Shenzhen, China
Additional offices
Beijing · Shanghai · Kowloon · Atlanta
Principals
Shuhao Wen
Chairman
Jian Ma
CEO
Lipeng Lai
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs the scientific and commercial strategy at XtalPi?
Jian Ma, a co-founder and MIT-trained physicist, serves as CEO and sets the strategic direction. Chairman Shuhao Wen—also an MIT physics alumnus—oversees corporate governance. The third co-founder, Lipeng Lai, focuses on core algorithm development. The firm's nearly 400 PhD-level researchers drive individual program execution across the Shenzhen, Kowloon, and Atlanta labs.
How does XtalPi generate revenue, and who are its largest pharma partners?
XtalPi operates on a milestone-and-royalty model rather than taking equity in drug candidates. Publicly disclosed partners include Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson (per S-1 filing, 2023). Revenue comes from upfront technology access fees, research-milestone payments when compounds advance into preclinical testing, and downstream royalties on successful candidates. The firm also earns materials-science fees from industrial collaborations with Sinopec and other chemical manufacturers.
How does XtalPi's approach differ from other AI-drug-discovery platforms like Schrödinger or Recursion?
XtalPi internalizes wet-lab validation alongside its computational engine. Schrödinger partners with external contract research organizations for lab work; Recursion operates its own labs but targets phenotypic screening rather than physics-based crystal-structure prediction. XtalPi's Frontier Cryo-EM platform generates proprietary training data by feeding experimental protein-structure images back into the quantum-mechanics models, creating a data moat that pure software vendors cannot replicate.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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