QuantrolOx has announced their €10.5m Accelerator grant and equity investment from the European Innovation Council. This funding will help them launch their product, which will automate the tuning parameters in quantum computers in 2023.
Nowadays, quantum computing is where conventional computing was in the 1960s and 1970s, and nations from all over the world are vying to create the norms that will be followed as the quantum sector develops. Just over 100 qubits of processing power make up functioning quantum computers now, but in the future, they will contain hundreds, and eventually even millions, of qubits. These quantities cannot be scaled by manual adjustment.
Quantum computers have the computing ability that traditional computers do not. The drawback of quantum computers is that they are unstable. Quantum computers, however, need continuous manual tweaking, which is time-consuming and complicated. As a result, they spend far more time tuning than actually using.
QuantrolOx intends to use machine learning to automate this procedure. Its software continuously checks and modifies hundreds of factors, extending the period when the computers are usable. It is built to scale with quantum computers and operates on conventional computers.
“If you look at classical computers, they are very stable. They will stay on for years as long as there is power,”
Vishal Chatrath, CEO and co-founder of Oxford-based startup QuantrolOx.
QuantrolOx intends to use machine learning to automate this procedure. The software will check and modify hundreds of factors, extending the period when the computers are usable. It is built to scale with quantum computers and operates on conventional computers. The new funding will assist QuantrolOx in the product launch.
Out of the total investment, €2.5 million will be given to the company as a grant up front. The remaining €8 million will be made available to the startup in exchange for equity at a later time and can be unlocked when it receives matching investments from other sources.
So, if QuantrolOx needs to raise €10 million in the future, it would only need to €5 million from VCs, which would be matched by €5 million from the EIC – the remaining €3 million may be accessed in the same way at a later date.
For example, the EIC will match VC investments up to €8 million, which can be distributed over several rounds. According to Chatrath, the EIC’s fundraising strategy is well-suited to the demands of deep tech businesses, who often have a harder time raising stock than startups in other tech areas.
