Using these tools, Nextmol characterizes the behavior of chemical molecules, predicts their performance and identifies the best candidate molecules to meet certain physicochemical properties, by means of the computer and without the need to synthesize the molecule.
In this way, "Nextmol shortens the path of innovation and makes chemical R&D more efficient compared to the traditional approach based exclusively on the laboratory," indicates Mónica de Mier, director of the company. De Mier adds that "Nextmol's mission is to democratize the computational techniques in the chemical industry, accompanying it in its digital transformation, and thus contribute to its competitiveness".
Nextmol markets these tools through its software-as-a-service platform, which enables the creation of the molecules and the system to be studied, build workflows with the sequence of calculations to be carried out, execute the calculation on a supercomputer and analyze the results. It is a collaborative, easy-to-use and cloud-based web platform, which enables computing resources to be immediately scaled to the volume of calculations required by users. "Thanks to the catalog of preconfigured workflows, the platform can be used by non-experts in computational chemistry," says Stephan Mohr, scientific director of Nextmol.
BSC is the main partner of this spin-off, which has been founded by researcher Stephan Mohr and by Mónica de Mier, previously head of business development in the CASE department of BSC. The team currently consists of five people. Nextmol also has the support of the Repsol Foundation through its startup acceleration program Entrepeneurs Fund. In addition, it has obtained the Startup Capital grant from ACCIÓ.
Nextmol leads the project BigDFT4CHEM that won the call for Spin-off Initiatives (SPI) launched by the EXDCI-2 consortium, has been one of the five startups finalists of the Entrepreneur Awards XXI organized by Caixabank and Enisa, has obtained the Seal of Excellence in the EIC Accelerator call, has been awarded with the "Tech Transfer Award" granted by the European Network on High-performance Embedded Architecture and Compilation (HiPEAC) and a Eurolab4HPC Business Prototyping project.