Sandbox AQ, a former brother of Google, raises $500 million

Sandbox AQ, a quantum technology startup spun off from Google's parent company Alphabet last year, said on Tuesday that it had raised $500m (currently about 3.41 billion yuan).

Jack Hidary, chief executive of Sandbox AQ, said his software could scan corporate systems to determine which parts used old encryption technologies and which passwords needed to be urgently changed, and set about strengthening corporate encryption.

Sandbox AQ also has a business selling quantum simulation software to accelerate the development of drugs and materials, as well as the use of quantum sensors in medical devices and technologies that could eventually replace GPS.

Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, is the chairman and investor of the startup. Other investors include Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price and TIME Ventures of Salesforce founder Marc Benioff.

Schmidt has won more than 15 corporate and government clients and has partnered with 30 universities to train PhDs and other needed talent, Sandbox AQ said in a statement.

Part of the company's team and inspiration came from Alphabet in 2016, which is not a shareholder, and Hidari said he wanted the company to be independent in order to work with other major cloud computing companies.