XtalPi Announces Strategic Acquisition of Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC), Unlocking Unprecedented Power in Chemical Space Exploration

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom, June 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- XtalPi, a leading life sciences and new materials R&D platform powered by quantum physics, AI and robotics, today announced its acquisition of Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC), a pioneer in automated chiral chemistry technologies. This strategic merger will enhance XtalPi's ability to explore and synthesize novel chemical space with speed and precision, accelerating innovation for pharmaceutical, materials, agricultural, and specialty chemical applications. The acquisition underscores XtalPi's commitment to advancing the frontiers of chemical discovery and delivering transformative solutions to partners worldwide.

Founded in 2014 at the University of Liverpool, UK, LCC has established itself as a global leader in high-throughput novel chiral molecule design and synthesis, serving multinational pharmaceutical companies and specialist biotech firms across the US, Europe, and Asia. Its PACE (Parallel Automated Chiral Engine) technology combines AI software with automation, delivering a vast collection of unique, stereodefined, and diverse chiral building blocks, alongside a proprietary billion-scale virtual chiral library.

XtalPi's R&D platform integrates quantum physics and AI predictions with large-scale automated chemistry experiments to generate, screen, and validate novel compounds with tailored physiochemical properties and molecular functionalities. By incorporating LCC's world-leading chiral chemistry expertise into its intelligent autonomous chemistry platform, XtalPi will further broaden its accessible and actionable mega chemical space, propelling the discovery of next-generation therapeutics and materials. LCC's automated synthesis capabilities for chiral molecules highly complement XtalPi's high-precision, high-flexibility robotic workstations, enriching predictive chemistry models and accelerating the translation of computational predictions into tangible compound assets with greater accuracy and efficiency.

The combined entity now operates labs, automation systems, and AI infrastructure in the US, Europe, and Asia. This global footprint offers clients enhanced operational flexibility, enabling secure, geographically segmented project management to meet stringent regional regulations and client-specific security requirements.

Xuekun Shi, Chief Operating Officer of XtalPi, commented: "By integrating LCC's world-class chiral chemistry expertise into our AI platform, we are advancing toward an end-to-end solution that redefines how scientists explore and harvest the vast, previously inaccessible chemical space at scale. This convergence of predictive algorithms and high-precision automation, now augmented by LCC's chiral capabilities, will empower our partners to navigate synthesis pathways with greater confidence, reduce wasted iterations, and unlock structurally novel candidates of high potential."

Paul Colbon, Chief Executive Officer of LCC, added: "The partnership of LCC and XtalPi creates a platform technology that has the potential to become the most powerful data engine in the world for chemical space exploration, fuelling AI/ML models with large volumes of high-quality data in a fully integrated wet-dry lab cycle. I am delighted to stay on in my position and guide the collaboration between these two excellent teams that already share a common vision of developing tools that enable scientists to deliver impactful innovation."

About XtalPi
XtalPi Holdings Limited (XtalPi, 2228.HK) was founded in 2015 by three physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is an innovative R&D platform powered by quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and robotics. By integrating first-principles calculations, AI algorithms, high-performance cloud computing, and standardized automation systems, XtalPi provides digital and intelligent R&D solutions for companies in the pharmaceutical, materials science, agricultural technology, energy, new chemicals, and cosmetics industries.

About Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC) Technologies
Founded in 2014 and spun off from the University of Liverpool, a limited company registered in England and Wales, Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC) has been a pioneer in development and application of chiral chemical space, initially focused on supporting small molecule drug discovery. LCC possesses a globally leading high-throughput chiral molecule synthesis platform, a vast collection of unique, stereodefined, diverse chiral building blocks, and a proprietary billion-scale virtual chiral library. The unique chemical space covered by LCC provides immense potential for innovation in drug discovery, novel materials, and other high-value chemical industries.

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