Tech

MemComputing

MemComputing delivers quantum computing performance to any computer with our software-based MemCPU(tm) Coprocessors. Developed at UC San Diego by two PhD Physicists. Through years of research and experimentation, they developed a completely new paradigm that harnesses the power of math and physics to solve today’s most complex and time-consuming problems orders of magnitude faster. Problems that currently take hours, days and even weeks to solve can be solved now in minutes or seconds.

Validated by institutions such as the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the University of California, the Palo Alto Research Center and the Zuse Institute of Berlin, MemComputing has been run head to head against thousands of quantum computing benchmarks and has been shown to run as quickly as the quantum computer, often delivering a more accurate solution and most importantly; MemComputing has been shown to scale to solve problems that Quantum Computers won’t be able to do for a decade or more. This has included solving problems that have been impossible to solve up until the introduction of this patented new technology.

MemComputing is initially focusing on the problems faced by logistics companies. It has demonstrated a solution for one of the world’s largest ports that was taking over 70 hours to solve. MemComputing showed how it could solve this same problem in seconds. A large aerospace company provided them with a problem that was taking over an hour to solve. With MemComputing, this problem can now be solved in as little as 60 seconds. The technology is initially being released as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and a Software Development Kit (SDK). Both are easily integrated through a standard application programming interface (API). Revenue will be generated through a usage-based licensing method that also considers the power of the computing hardware it is run upon. This model is used by cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft as well as enterprise systems such as Oracle & SAP. MemComputing is currently working on paid proof of concepts and the commercial product is currently in alpha test with an expected summer release.

MemComputing in the News

MemComputing has raised a funding round of an undisclosed amount to bring their total funding to over $3M

July 7, 2020

Meet MemComputing, Inc.

In 2012, Ph.D. physicist Fabio Traversa joined Professor Massimiliano (Max) Di Ventra at UCSD. Together they worked on unconventional computing methods. As part of their research, they went back to the drawing board to design a computer today, knowing all that we know now. This work led to the invention of MemComputing. MemComputing represents a new compute architecture that delivers the power expected of Quantum Computing, but one that can realizable with conventional methods. In 2015, UCSD asked serial entrepreneur John Beane to come on board as an Entrepreneur in Residence to help the university commercialize intellectual property. Max and Fabio presented MemComputing to John and explained they were having trouble getting grant money to continue the research. Impressed by the technology and not wanting the technology to sit on a shelf, John agreed not only to help them commercialize MemComputing but to initially fund the effort. The first step was to build a prototype and to convince an unimpeachable 3rd party to perform an analysis. The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) agreed to do so for a reasonable fee. SDSC not only validated the company's desire to build chips but that the software implementation was already orders of magnitude faster than anything else that was out there. From this, the company realized they could approach the technology from a crawl, walk run perspective. First, build a software solution run on the cloud (crawl), second build a software development kit run on-premises (walk) and then to design and build chips (run). To accomplish this, the company raised approximately $3M over four years from angels and some small VCs. This has led to the release of their cloud-based SaaS platform and working with over a dozen companies in industry and, most recently, has led to grants from the US Air Force.

Why is your company the best option to solve the problem you're solving?

We are the best option because the problems we solve are intractable for current methods, and the only other option is quantum computing. $Billions have been invested in quantum computing, and even the experts predict it is at least ten years before it will be viable. Our technology is most adaptable to optimization problems like scheduling, routing, and data analytics. Some of these problems can be solved today but either take hours, days, or weeks or many times result in approximations. At the scale of industry, both the time it takes to compute these solutions and the money left on the table due to non-optimal approximations affect companies' bottom lines. MemComputing is showing operational cost savings in the $millions per month. $10s to $100s of millions annually. Given the decline in revenue for critical industries associated with the COVID-19 crisis, cutting operational costs is of extreme importance. At a time when many companies are seeing interest wane, MemComputing is experiencing a surge.

What nuggets of info make you interesting? Why do people care about what you're doing?

People care because we are doing what has been considered impossible for 75+ years. We are overcoming a bottleneck in computers that none have been successful in doing for all this time. Only Quantum Computing has been perceived as being able to do this, but Quantum Computing is at least ten years out. Our technology is available today. Our SaaS is free to evaluate, so no one needs to take our word for it. They can try it for themselves and make up their minds.

What else do you want us to know?

That bottom line, we are a technology company. We may look like a SaaS company today, but we will be so much more in the future. I have taken the Qualcomm approach. Qualcomm created the products necessary to show that their technology worked. Once they succeeded, they sold off things like handsets, fleet management ... We are developing the technology to show people that the science works. In the long run, we hope to be like companies like Qualcomm and ARM. Most of what we develop is consumed by other companies to enable their technology. Right now, it is the SaaS, and later it will be our SDK and then finally a series of ASICs.

BEHIND THE COMPANY

CEO/Founder: John Beane

What one book, podcast, newsletter, etc. do you recommend to other entrepreneurs? Why?

There is no one book, podcast, or newsletter. Absorb them all, but use common sense in your application.

What is your company's secret sauce?

We have two patents issued, more pending, and a ton of trade secrets. That and we don't believe in the words "can't," "no," and "impossible."

What inspired you to start/run this company?

I never had the desire to be a CEO. I was always the VP of Engineering, the tech guy. I joined UCSD as an EiR and met the 2 Ph.D. inventors of the MemComputing technology. They were struggling to get grant money and were getting a lot of grief that their science could not be real. What they were claiming was impossible. In all my past startups, there were "impossible" technical issues that my teams and I overcame. I vetted the science with the smartest people I knew. None understood all of it, and all had questions, but when I had them sit down with the inventors, Max & Fabio always addressed their concerns. I did not want to see this technology get put on a shelf. So, I decided to fund it so that it could see the light of day. What inspired me to be the CEO was basically that between the 3 of us, the science was over my head, so I could not be the tech guy. They had 0 business experience, and I had over 25 years of on the job training and osmosis in running startups and was, therefore, the most qualified of us 3 to be the CEO. And honestly, I'm loving every minute of it. There are many who were more qualified, but none more suited.

What's the best entrepreneurial advice you've received?

If there is money available, take it. That is, if someone is interested in investing in your startup, even if you do not think you need the money, take the money — because you WILL need it.

What's the worst entrepreneurial advice you've received?

Anything like, "it won't work" or "you can't do that."

What sets your company culture apart?

I have a few principals I like to adhere to: * Create a fun atmosphere. Work hard, but have fun doing it. * Challenge - assign employees them more than you might think they can do * Trust - get out of the employee's way * Failure is OK - Allow people to make mistakes and allow them to fix their mistakes * Celebrate your successes, especially the little ones. * Get out of the office every month (as much as possible) and do things as a group * SWAG - people love swag. You get an incredible amount of goodwill from a logo t-shirt. And most importantly * Set things up for success - Create aggressive but achievable goals and make sure your team has the tools to meet them.