AI Transforms Physics Simulations
PhysicsX Secures $300 Million Series C to Advance AI in Industrial Engineering
PhysicsX, a London-based AI startup for industrial engineering, announced an oversubscribed $300 million Series C led by Temasek at an approximately $2.4 billion valuation, up from just under $1 billion a year earlier. The round includes new investors M&G Investments and Intrepid Growth Partners and participation from existing backers such as Nvidia, Applied Materials, Atomico, General Catalyst, Siemens, and others. PhysicsX’s AI-native platform replaces traditional physics simulations that can take hours or days with models that predict physical behavior in seconds, helping customers test far more design options across the engineering lifecycle. The technology is used in aerospace and defense, semiconductors, automotive, energy, materials, and other hardware-heavy industries, and the firm says semiconductor demand is a major driver of growth. Alongside the funding, PhysicsX reported rapid expansion—doubling recognized revenue year over year, tripling booked revenue, more than doubling its customer base, and growing staff to more than 300—supported by a reported backlog of client demand. The company plans to use the new capital to expand globally, enhance its platform, and advance frontier research, including scaling up pre-trained “Large Physics Models.”
Key Points
PhysicsX was founded in 2019 by Formula 1 engineers Jacomo Corbo and Robin Tuluie, then emerged from stealth in 2023 with a $32 million Series A led by General Catalyst; Corbo previously served as chief scientist and co-founder of QuantumBlack (McKinsey’s AI division), while Tuluie was head of R&D at Renault (Alpine) F1 and vehicle technology director at Bentley Motors.
The company says its system pairs “fast AI-driven physics inference with numerical simulation” and has already been used to reduce aircraft design cycles “from months to days,” framing its approach as “Large Physics Models” analogous to large language models but applied to physical equations (e.g., how engines, turbines and chips behave under stress).
In remarks accompanying the round, CEO Jacomo Corbo argued that physics has long been the “binding constraint on hardware innovation,” and said PhysicsX “is giving engineers the ability to explore thousands of designs where they once managed a handful, in seconds rather than weeks,” adding that it enables “more reliable, more efficient, and altogether new ways of doing engineering, manufacturing, and production.”
Reporting on backlog-driven demand, BusinessTimes said PhysicsX faced a roughly six-month backlog from customers including Applied Materials, Siemens and Stellantis; Corbo called it “a little untenable for us,” and described projected revenue of “close to US$50 million” before aiming to “doubled” that level by 2027.
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