Simulating the Future

Ability to Effectively Do So Will Drive the Autonomous World

Today, Lux Capital is proud to announce that we are leading a $125M Series C financing in Applied Intuition, whose platform makes autonomous vehicles possible, with simulation software that examines all possible risks practically and safely. Our co-investors from previous rounds, a16z and General Catalyst, partnered with us again to enable the company to take this next step towards building a world’s leading simulation and infrastructure tools platform. I am also joining their Board of Directors, alongside Marc Andreessen and Hemant Taneja.

I am of the firm belief that in the future everything we design, engineer, manufacture, test, and use in the physical world will be simulated in silico first. Simulation is the future of physical world innovation, and it applies to automotive, robotics, drones, construction, 3D printing, and many other areas equally. This is an interesting time in history when large scale complex simulations can be done securely using real world physics models on advanced computing infrastructure. Applied Intuition founders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, along with the rest of the team are the world’s foremost experts in the field and we are proud to have been their investment partners since the beginning of their journey. The company is a classic Lux investment; many technologies and tools invented by and used by Applied Intuition simply weren’t available before. This is how we move from science fiction to science fact.

Applied Intuition has grown remarkably fast in the last three and a half years, from a small office in Sunnyvale to six locations globally (Silicon Valley, Detroit, Los Angeles, Munich, Tokyo, and Seoul). The company has built a team of AV simulation experts larger than any other in-house OEM efforts in the world. The company provides hundreds of features in its extensive simulation and infrastructure product suite to serve customers including major automotive OEMs and AV startups, mining/freight/trucking companies, and logistics and delivery robots.

The company plans to use this financing to focus on growing its team and product offering to enable its customers to reduce risk in their development efforts, and enable them to take their autonomous vehicle software stack from R&D to production. Applied’s software is used for all levels of autonomy, and not just in cars but for all kinds of autonomous systems in motion. A great deal of promise also lies in the fact that the software isn’t limited to just R&D, but is also used for production. I am proud of the work the company is doing to make mobility safe and efficient.

One of Applied Intuitions most incredible assets is the talent it has brought onto the team. These are some of the most incredible engineers, physicists, mathematicians, software developers, and customer service reps. Applied is hiring globally, and if you are in the autonomy space broadly, or specifically in simulation, or just an amazing developer interested in these spaces, they would love to connect with you!