SC Launch Inc., the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority, has announced a $400,000 investment in QWERKY AI.
The Columbia-based startup addresses the crisis of soaring computational costs, high energy use, and infrastructure limitations that force enterprises to choose between performance and affordability as large models scale.
SCRA Chief Program Officer Lee MacIlwinen said, “QWERKY AI reflects the kind of transformative, forward-thinking innovation we are proud to support. Their approach to AI development puts usability and trust at the forefront — values that align closely with our mission.”
QWERKY AI became an SCRA Member Company in August 2025 and an SC Launch Inc portfolio company with this investment.
“QWERKY AI has built strong protected IP, ranging from individual proprietary processes to a family of custom models. They have made a ton of progress, and have been accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program, the NVIDIA DGX Cloud Innovation Lab, and the Microsoft for Startup Program,” said SCRA Senior Investment Associate Javon Jones.
“By lowering costs without degrading model performance, QWERKY AI not only stands at the forefront of the global efficiency race but also fuels AI talent development and deep-tech innovation within South Carolina’s emerging technology corridor.”
QWERKY AI opened its headquarters last summer and has made significant strides in large language model optimization. They recently announced a partnership with Inbox Beverage Inc. to revolutionize the container and beverage industry with an AI-powered design platform that uses more efficient, faster models.
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