PhysicsX funding 2026 reached a landmark on June 8 when the London company announced an oversubscribed $300 million Series C led by Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, at a valuation of $2.4 billion. Twelve months earlier, the company was valued at just under $1 billion. That trajectory tells you everything you need to know about where industrial AI is heading. The Next Web
Table of Contents
- What Is PhysicsX
- The Founders: Built for Formula 1, Now Building for Industry
- What the $300 Million Series C Covers
- Who Is Backing PhysicsX and Why It Matters
- The Business Case: Revenue and Growth Numbers
- Why Data Centres Are Driving PhysicsX Growth
- Why London Remains the Right Home for PhysicsX
- Key Takeaways
- FAQ
What Is PhysicsX
PhysicsX is a London-based physics artificial intelligence company that builds AI-native engineering simulation platforms for industrial organisations. It replaces conventional physics simulations that take hours or days with AI models that deliver results in seconds across aerospace, automotive, semiconductor manufacturing, energy, and materials production.
The platform combines fast AI-driven physics inference with numerical simulation to accelerate product development, reduce risk, and optimise performance. PhysicsX calls this approach “Large Physics Models,” an analogy to the large language models that power chatbots but applied to the physical equations governing how engines, turbines, and chips behave under stress.
The technology has already been applied to cut aircraft design cycles from months to days. Every data centre cooling system, every chip package, every power turbine that feeds the AI supply chain is a potential PhysicsX deployment. This makes it the picks-and-shovels play on the entire AI infrastructure boom.
The Founders: Built for Formula 1, Now Building for Industry
PhysicsX was founded in 2019 by Jacomo Corbo and Robin Tuluie, both former Formula 1 engineers. Corbo was previously chief scientist and co-founder of QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI division. Tuluie served as head of R&D at Renault (Alpine) F1 and vehicle technology director at Bentley Motors.
The company emerged from stealth in 2023 with a $32 million Series A led by General Catalyst. That first public round established PhysicsX as the leading AI-native engineering simulation company in Europe. Three years later, it is one of the UK’s most valuable AI startups.
The F1 background is not incidental. Formula 1 is one of the most simulation-intensive engineering environments in the world, where teams run hundreds of thousands of aerodynamic simulations per season. Corbo and Tuluie built PhysicsX to bring that simulation velocity to every industry.
What the $300 Million Series C Covers
The oversubscribed $300 million Series C at a $2.4 billion valuation was announced June 8, 2026. In a market where venture capital has become more selective since 2022, investors fighting for allocation in a deeptech round at this scale reflects rare conviction.
CEO Jacomo Corbo told the Financial Times: “Right now, candidly, we are very supply-side limited,” adding that the company is having to moderate its rollout to existing customers because of demand. He said semiconductors are expected to become PhysicsX’s largest industry segment this year.
The funding will accelerate global growth, expand platform capabilities, and support frontier research including the development of larger, more powerful pre-trained physics AI models. It will also fund US expansion and a new office in Singapore, Temasek’s home market.
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Who Is Backing PhysicsX and Why It Matters
The round is led by Temasek, which first invested in PhysicsX during its 2025 Series B. New backers M&G Investments and Intrepid Growth Partners joined this round. Existing investors including NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Atomico, General Catalyst, July Fund, NGP, Radius, and Siemens all increased their stakes.
The investor composition tells a deeper story than the headline number. Temasek is one of the most strategically disciplined long-term capital allocators in the world. Its decision to lead this round signals a conviction that physics AI for industrial engineering is a global infrastructure play, not a niche technology bet.
NVIDIA and Applied Materials are not passive financial investors. They are two of the most important companies in the global semiconductor and AI hardware supply chain. Their increased stakes mean the companies building the physical infrastructure that AI runs on believe PhysicsX is essential to their own roadmap.
The combination of sovereign wealth, industrial technology leaders, and tier-one venture capital in a single oversubscribed round is extraordinary by any standard in the UK deeptech market. PhysicsX competes in a field that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos among its rivals’ backers and is winning.
The Business Case: Revenue and Growth Numbers
PhysicsX has doubled year-over-year recognised revenue, tripled booked revenue, and more than doubled its customer count over the past year. The team has grown from 150 to 350 employees over the past twelve months and has more than quadrupled revenue over the past two years.
Tripling booked revenue while doubling recognised revenue is a specific and meaningful signal. It means the commercial pipeline is growing faster than delivery, indicating more contracted demand than the company has yet converted to completed revenue. That backlog represents future growth already locked in.
The $2.4 billion valuation places PhysicsX among the UK’s most valuable AI startups. It ranked second in Sifted’s inaugural AI 100, a ranking of Europe’s most promising AI startups. The broader signal is that European deeptech can command frontier-level valuations when the technology solves a measurable industrial bottleneck.
Why Data Centres Are Driving PhysicsX Growth
The company’s growth is being driven, somewhat counterintuitively, by the AI boom itself. The infrastructure required to build and operate data centres, including gas turbines, compressors, cooling systems, and semiconductor fabrication, creates enormous demand for the kind of engineering simulation PhysicsX accelerates.
Corbo has said semiconductors are expected to become PhysicsX’s largest industry segment in 2026. In aerospace, the technology has already cut aircraft design cycles from months to days. In energy, every power turbine and cooling system feeding the AI supply chain is a potential deployment.
PhysicsX is not building a chatbot or a coding assistant. It is building the simulation layer that the companies making AI’s physical infrastructure depend on. In a market obsessed with software, the company that helps you design the hardware faster is having its moment.
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Why London Remains the Right Home for PhysicsX
PhysicsX was founded in London and has stayed in London through three funding rounds and a valuation that now exceeds $2 billion. CEO Jacomo Corbo has described London as a “wonderful place” to build a global business, and the company will remain headquartered there despite US and Singapore expansion.
London and the broader UK ecosystem provide access to world-class physics, mathematics, and engineering talent from institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, and UCL. The UK deeptech pipeline in physics-adjacent fields like quantum computing, materials science, and AI for science is among the strongest globally.
PhysicsX’s growth is evidence that the UK can grow deeptech champions from seed to $2 billion and beyond without relocating to Silicon Valley. That matters enormously for the next generation of UK deeptech startup 2026 founders choosing where to build.
Key Takeaways
- PhysicsX raised an oversubscribed $300 million Series C at a $2.4 billion valuation on June 8, 2026.
- The company was founded in 2019 by former F1 engineers Jacomo Corbo and Robin Tuluie.
- Temasek led the round; NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Atomico, General Catalyst, and Siemens all increased stakes.
- PhysicsX has grown from 150 to 350 employees and quadrupled revenue over two years.
- Semiconductors are expected to become its largest industry segment in 2026.
- It ranked second in Sifted’s inaugural AI 100 ranking of Europe’s top AI startups.
- London remains headquarters despite US and Singapore expansion funded by this round.
FAQ
What does PhysicsX do?
PhysicsX builds AI-native engineering simulation platforms that replace traditional physics simulations with AI models delivering results in seconds. It serves aerospace, semiconductors, automotive, energy, and industrial manufacturing clients globally.
Who founded PhysicsX?
PhysicsX was founded in 2019 by Jacomo Corbo and Robin Tuluie, both former Formula 1 engineers. Corbo was previously co-founder of QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI division. Tuluie was head of R&D at Renault Alpine F1 and vehicle technology director at Bentley Motors.
How much did PhysicsX raise in 2026?
PhysicsX raised $300 million in an oversubscribed Series C announced June 8, 2026, valuing the company at approximately $2.4 billion, more than doubling its valuation from under $1 billion a year earlier.
Who invested in PhysicsX Series C?
Temasek led the round. New investors M&G Investments and Intrepid Growth Partners participated. Existing backers NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Atomico, General Catalyst, July Fund, NGP, Radius, and Siemens all increased their stakes.
What is a Large Physics Model?
A Large Physics Model (LPM) is a large-scale pre-trained AI model designed for physical systems and engineering simulation, analogous to a Large Language Model but trained on physical data. PhysicsX is developing LPMs as part of its frontier research programme funded by the Series C.
How does PhysicsX compare to traditional simulation software?
Traditional simulation software can take hours or days per run, limiting how many design variants engineers can test. PhysicsX AI models deliver results in seconds, enabling thousands of variants to be tested in the time traditional tools handle one run.
