DP Technology Files for IPO After Completing Three Rounds of Financing in One Year, Pioneering Microscale Industrial Design with 'AI + Molecular Simulation'

On August 5, 2021, DP Technology announced the completion of a Series A funding round worth tens of millions of US dollars, led by GL Ventures with Matrix Partners China participating. This marks the third consecutive financing round completed by DP Technology within a single year. Previously, the company had secured a Pre-A round led by Yuanjing Capital, with Qingliu Capital as a co-investor, and closed an angel round in July 2020 led by Baidu Ventures, followed by investments from WeLie Capital and Shengjing Capital. The significant value and vast application potential of artificial intelligence in addressing microscopic physical problems, coupled with DP Technology’s industry-leading “AI + Molecular Simulation” technology, are the key drivers behind the rapid and successive capital recognition the company has received.

It is reported that the funds raised from this financing will be used for "the development of scientific computing platforms, represented by a next-generation molecular simulation platform, and the implementation of related technologies in scenarios such as drug and material design." Zhang Linfeng, Founder and Chief Scientist of DP Technology, stated: "Scientific computing, represented by molecular simulation, is the new frontier for AI. Innovations in related algorithms and computing power are calling for next-generation infrastructure, fostering next-generation collaborative mechanisms, and will provide novel solutions to numerous industry challenges."

Founded in 2019, DP Technology is dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence and molecular simulation algorithms to build next-generation infrastructure for fundamental research in life sciences, energy, and materials science and engineering—the bedrock of human civilization—while providing R&D professionals with intelligent systems for computation and design at the microscopic scale. Molecular simulation has extensive applications in drug design, materials design, and property prediction. DP Technology pioneered a revolutionary new paradigm of "multi-scale modeling + machine learning + high-performance computing," achieving a breakthrough in unifying accuracy and efficiency in multi-scale molecular simulation, and delivering highly groundbreaking computational simulation and design tools to the pharmaceutical and materials sectors. To date, DP Technology has successfully deployed innovative products and solutions in fields such as drug design and materials design, and has established deep strategic partnerships with numerous leading enterprises in the pharmaceutical and materials industries. Sun Weijie, Co-founder and CEO of DP Technology, stated, "Next-generation molecular simulation technology brings systemic transformation and reshaping opportunities to the micro-scale industrial design sector. By re-examining industry challenges from a physics perspective at the electronic and atomic scales, we will uncover a wealth of new opportunities and possibilities."

DP Technology originated from academia. Its founder and chief scientist, Zhang Linfeng, graduated from Yuanpei College at Peking University and earned a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Princeton University. His primary research interests encompass statistical physics, molecular simulation, and machine learning, along with their applications in chemistry, biology, materials science, and related fields. By integrating machine learning, multi-scale modeling methodologies, and high-performance computing, he has effectively addressed a series of critical challenges in computational chemistry and molecular dynamics simulation. In collaboration with others, he developed open-source software such as DeePMD-kit and the DeepModeling open-source community. His contributions as a core developer were recognized with the 2020 ACM Gordon Bell Prize, the highest honor in the field of high-performance computing. Furthermore, the related work was selected as one of China’s Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances of 2020 (evaluated by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering) and one of the Global Top 10 AI Scientific and Technological Advances of 2020 (selected by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence).

Another founder and CEO, Sun Weijie, also graduated from Yuanpei College at Peking University and continued his studies at the university to earn a Master of Management degree, with extensive experience in analysis and investment across sectors such as technology, education, and enterprise services. Currently, DP Technology has assembled an "all-star team of scientists" from numerous world-class universities, top-tier research institutions, and industry-leading enterprises, focusing on building a microscale industrial design platform based on the paradigm of "multiscale modeling + machine learning + high-performance computing."

Microscale industrial design refers to an engineering approach that achieves specific physical and chemical properties by manipulating composition and structure at the electronic, atomic, and molecular scales. For instance, the fundamental prerequisite for predicting numerous microscopic properties is the accurate calculation of interatomic interactions, with the interatomic potential energy surface serving as the key physical descriptor. Historically, this has presented a long-standing dilemma where accuracy and computational efficiency cannot be simultaneously achieved: empirical force field methods are fast but lack accuracy, whereas quantum mechanics-based methods are highly accurate but computationally prohibitive. Moreover, despite their high simulation accuracy, traditional quantum mechanical models fall prey to the "curse of dimensionality" as the system size grows exponentially. This restricts their modeling capabilities to systems of merely dozens to hundreds of atoms, rendering them inadequate for simulating the tens of thousands to millions of atoms required in pharmaceutical and materials research.

DP Technology pioneered a revolutionary new paradigm of "multi-scale modeling + machine learning + high-performance computing," achieving a breakthrough in unifying accuracy and efficiency for multi-scale molecular simulations. Its most representative method, DeePMD, maintains quantum mechanical accuracy while accelerating molecular dynamics computations by at least five orders of magnitude, with computational resource demands scaling linearly with the number of atoms in the system. Simply put, compared to traditional quantum mechanical computational tools, it significantly enhances the efficiency of solving physical equations at equivalent accuracy levels, thereby vastly expanding humanity's capacity to simulate the objective physical world using computers.

Building on this significant breakthrough, the core members of DP Technology were awarded the Gordon Bell Prize in November 2020, the highest honor in international high-performance computing applications and widely hailed as the "Nobel Prize of computing applications." The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) commented on this research achievement as follows: "By leveraging machine learning and large-scale parallel computing, deep learning-based molecular dynamics simulation brings precise physical modeling into larger-scale materials simulations, and holds great promise for playing an increasingly significant role in solving practical problems across mechanics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and even engineering in the future, such as in macromolecular drug development."

Centered on its leading molecular simulation methods, DP Technology will continue to advance the development of the DeepModeling open-source community, fostering an open and inclusive environment to drive the progress of global scientific computing. Since its release over two years ago, the open-source software within the DeepModeling community has been adopted by nearly a thousand research groups both domestically and internationally, spanning multiple fields including physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and geology. In the field of materials simulation, it has explored multiple application directions such as high-performance alloy materials, lithium battery electrolytes, and semiconductor materials, yielding a series of highly valuable academic achievements that have been published in top-tier international academic journals such as Science.

Built upon next-generation molecular simulation technology, DP Technology has established a comprehensive suite of products and services in drug design and materials design, supporting the entire value chain from fundamental innovation to industrial application. DP Technology's Lebesgue Scientific Computing Platform, delivered via a SCaaS (Scientific Computing as a Service) model, provides users with "one-stop elastic cloud computing and deep application optimization" services, offering highly cost-effective computing solutions. For drug design, DP Technology's Hermite Drug Design Software SaaS Platform integrates proprietary, cutting-edge drug design solutions alongside numerous industry-leading drug design tools, while also delivering drug design pipeline services to pharmaceutical enterprises. In the materials design domain, DP Technology's DP Materials Design Platform has initially deployed solutions for material structure search and composition search, and remains dedicated to the long-term rational design of novel materials.

“AI + Molecular Simulation” is hailed as the next disruptive application scenario for artificial intelligence, following established tracks such as computer vision, speech processing, and natural language processing. Powered by next-generation molecular simulation technology, the tremendous breakthroughs DP Technology has brought to micro-scale industrial design will catalyze disruptive innovations in fields including life sciences and materials science. Currently, DP Technology has partnered with multiple top-tier clients in the pharmaceutical and materials sectors to collaboratively tackle more world-class challenges. Following the completion of this funding round, DP Technology will continuously strengthen its capabilities and commercial footprint, gradually evolving into a "technology company rooted in China with a global impact," building a solid ladder and bridge to advance human society to a new stage of development.

GL Ventures Executive Director Xiao Yongqiangstated: “The DP Technology team’s high-performance computing engine and micro-scale ‘AI + simulation’ software have provided entirely new possibilities for the R&D of pharmaceuticals and new materials. The team’s achievements have also won the ‘Gordon Bell Prize,’ the highest award in the field of international high-performance computing applications, demonstrating global leadership. We highly value the partnership of founders Lin Feng and Weijie, and look forward to DP Technology, under their leadership, continuously unleashing R&D productivity, solving complex challenges in micro-scale industrial design, and developing into a world-class industrial software provider.”

Lingye Zuo, Partner at Matrix Partners China“stated: “DP Technology features truly disruptive innovation in foundational technologies. By integrating artificial intelligence algorithms with physics-based models, it has achieved large-scale, high-efficiency simulation and modeling at the molecular structural level. This technology can be applied across multiple fields such as chemistry, biology, and materials science, unlocking applications that were previously constrained by computing power. The core team of DP Technology possesses globally leading capabilities in foundational academic innovation. Driven by ambitious visions and equipped with cross-disciplinary engineering expertise, they are capable of effectively translating academic breakthroughs into industrial applications. We believe the company can become the globally leading infrastructure for next-generation molecular computing.””

Yiran Liu, Partner at Yuanjing Capitalstated: “The cross-scale modeling technology pioneered by the DP Technology team has successfully harnessed capabilities such as artificial intelligence and high-performance cloud computing, revolutionizing the scale and precision of microscopic scientific computing and securing a globally leading position. We are thrilled to have identified such a homegrown team and its independent innovation. This kind of foundational technological advancement is precisely what YuanJing Capital has consistently sought and prioritized within the high-tech sector. DP Technology’s platform holds broad application potential across numerous fields, including life sciences and new energy materials. Since we led the Pre-A financing round late last year, the company has achieved rapid growth and garnered recognition from a wider pool of investors. We look forward to the team delivering more exciting breakthroughs in the future.”

Ren Xiaochen, Head of B2B Sector at Qingli Capitalstated: “Scientific simulation is one of the core driving forces behind the development of high-end technology and manufacturing. From Newton’s physical world to Schrödinger’s microscopic world, humanity’s understanding and mastery of the molecular world holds the key to driving the 21st-century technological revolution. Standing at this historical turning point, DP Technology has pioneered the integration of AI and molecular simulation, creating a new generation of intelligent infrastructure for human exploration of the microscopic world. Chengwei Capital is thrilled to be part of this exciting transformation and looks forward to partnering with DP Technology to jointly witness and pioneer new frontiers in humanity’s exploration of the world!”

DP Technology ("DP Technology") is a technology company established in 2019, dedicated to solving micro-scale industrial design challenges through next-generation molecular simulation technology. Its primary business direction is to build simulation R&D platforms that effectively serve pharmaceutical companies, material manufacturers, and research institutions, with the core objective of unleashing the productivity of R&D professionals.

DP Technology possesses robust capabilities in scientific research and industrial commercialization. Its next-generation molecular simulation algorithm, while maintaining quantum mechanical accuracy, accelerates molecular dynamics computations by at least five orders of magnitude, with computing power requirements scaling linearly with the number of atoms in the system. Integrated with high-performance computing, it enables quantum-mechanics-accurate simulations for systems comprising billions of atoms. Core team members were awarded the 2020 "Gordon Bell Prize," the highest honor in the global high-performance computing field, and the related work was recognized as one of the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances in China in 2020, as well as one of the Top 10 Global AI Scientific and Technological Advances in 2020.

Led by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the company's core team primarily comprises members from world-class universities, research institutions, and enterprises, including Peking University, Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, Fudan University, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Alibaba, and Baidu. The research team consists of dozens of outstanding young scientists across multiple disciplines, including physical modeling, numerical algorithms, machine learning, high-performance computing, and computational drug and materials science.