Keeping in mind that
Google is pretty fired up on D-Wave's architecture while
Rigetti and
Alibaba are developing proprietary systems.
What's what and who's who from Nanalyze:
If we had to pick the single most Sci-Fi sounding technology we’ve ever written about, it would probably be a toss-up between Kernel’s brain chips
and quantum computing in general. Renowned physicist David
Deutsche says that “quantum computation will be the first technology
that allows useful tasks to be performed in collaboration between
parallel universes,” a sentiment that was also echoed
by the founder and Chief Technology Officer of D-Wave, Geordie Rose.
It’s mind-blowing to think about what we might be able to do with
quantum computing, not to mention the whole parallel universe thing, so
we want to stay on top of which quantum computing companies have been
getting funding lately. A quick look at CrunchBase shows us 15 startups
labeled under the category “quantum computing” that have taken in
disclosed funding rounds during 2018 so far. Of those fifteen startups,
nine took in their first disclosed funding round this year. Let’s take a
look at these nine names plus a bonus name.
Founded in 2017, Berkeley-based startup Bleximo took in a single seed round of $1.5 million just
days ago with the intent to develop “quantum application-specific
integrated circuit technology” which will be specialized in an
industry-specific manner. In a past article, we talked about how
processors like ASICS can be coded to address very specific applications
with very high levels of performance as a result. That’s pretty much
what Bleximo is doing with their “quantum accelerators.” The startup
also announced a partnership with a startup called Q-CTRL which we’ll
discuss next. (Just a thought here, but has anyone considered what bitcoin mining might look like when quantum computing arrives?)
Since
Q-CTRL wasn’t classified under “quantum computing” on CrunchBase, we
almost missed this Australian startup that took in a second seed round
this summer with participation from Sequoia. Founded in 2017, Q-CTRL has
taken in an undisclosed amount of funding from two
seed rounds so far to develop a “hardware-agnostic platform which works
with every qubit to reduce decoherence and errors at the physical
layer.” They’ve already released a cloud-based product called Black
Opal:
One
of the biggest problems researchers face when trying to build a
functional quantum computer is getting the qbit to stabilize so they can
be used for computations. Q-CTRL is one of eight startups selected by IBM to run computations on their quantum machines.
Founded in 2007, Denver-based startup ColdQuanta took in a seed funding round of $6.8 million
over the summer. The funding will be used to commercialize ColdQuanta’s
foundational ultracold neutral atom technology. A cursory look through
the website shows that they’re somewhat of a picks-and-shovels provider
for companies that need ultra-specialized equipment and tools for
quantum computing research.
Founded in 2014, Silicon Valley startup QC Ware first came across our radar in an article we wrote almost 2 years ago titled 10 Quantum Computing Companies.
In that article, we talked about how the startup is trying to figure
out how to perform optimizations on a quantum computer. In July of this
year, QC Ware took in a $6.5 million funding round from
some big corporate names including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and
Airbus. In the same month, QC Ware announced support for Cirq, an
open-source quantum computing framework offered by Google. Their
enterprise-focused quantum computing cloud will also support other
quantum computing hardware providers as well.
Founded just this year, Austin-based startup Strangeworks has taken in $4 million
in funding from a small pool of investors so they can work on something
related to quantum computing that they’re trying to keep a secret at
the moment. Their Cirque-du-Soleil-looking website is filled with
chatter about making quantum computing accessible to the decision makers
of a firm. The founder and CEO, William Hurley, is somewhat of a serial
entrepreneur having founded Chaotic Moon Studios which was acquired by
Accenture in 2015 and Honest Dollar which was acquired by Goldman Sachs
in 2016. That’s where Mr. Hurley served as M.D. before leaving in
February of this year to get his latest venture off the ground. He’s
published a whole slew of papers on quantum computing and already seems
to be an expert in the space....
...
MUCH MORE
