XtalPi uses quantum physics, AI and cloud computing to improve drug design processes.

China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd along with Sequoia Capital China and Alphabet Inc’s Google have joined a $15 million series B funding round for XtalPi Inc, a Boston and Shenzhen-based artificial intelligence (AI) pharmaceutical firm.

A statement by Google and XtalPi confirmed that Sequoia led the funding round bringing the startup’s total funding to $20 million.

XtalPi uses quantum physics, AI and cloud computing to improve drug design processes.

Significantly, the deal is the first joint investment by Google and Tencent.

Earlier this month both firms revealed that they also share a patent agreement which paves the way for research related cooperation between them.

In recent times, despite China blocking Google’s search engine in the Chinese market, Google has ramped up investment in the country and has launched a dedicated AI lab in China.