SGInnovate, Sequoia Capital India back Horizon Quantum Computing’s seed-plus round
Singapore-based quantum computing startup Horizon Quantum Computing has raised SG$4.5 million (US$3.23 million) in a seed-plus round, the company announced in a statement today.
Sequoia Capital India was the lead investor for the round, which saw participation from existing backers and deep tech investors Singapore Government-owned SGInnovate and Tokyo-based Abies Ventures, the statement noted. DCVC, Qubit Protocol, Summer Capital and Posa CV also participated.
The statement further noted that funding from the seed extension round will help the company support its go-to-market strategy, acquire early customers, and bolster its team.
CEO of Horizon Quantum Computing Dr Joe Fitzsimons pointed out in the statement that quantum computing is able to tackle advanced computation, but an underdeveloped understanding of quantum processors may hamper progress.
“As hardware development continues to advance, learning to harness the power of quantum processors for business applications will become the main barrier to adoption,” Fitzsimons said in the statement.
Horizon Quantum Computing develops tools that can help automatically adapt conventional computer programs to quantum processors.
The company’s Chief Science Officer Dr Si-Hui Tan explained in the statement that the traditional approach to developing quantum applications requires engineers to follow the specific steps of a quantum algorithm.
Conversely, Horizon Quantum Computing’s technology leverages automation to optimize conventional programming language for quantum processors, he continues.
“What makes our approach unique is that we construct quantum algorithms directly from conventional source code, automatically identifying places where it can be sped up,” Tan noted in the statement. “All our users have to do is to provide their program in a conventional programming language.”
The funding comes almost two years after the company raised a seed round in late 2018, where the company raised SG$1.2 million (a little over US$860,000 at today’s rates) led by SGInnovate, with Abies Ventures pitching in along with Data Collective DCVC and Summer Capital.
Chief Executive Officer, SGInnovate, Dr Lim Jui said in the statement, “Five, 10 years or beyond, we are certain that quantum technology will be a game-changer and will have a tremendous impact on the world–from how governments and organizations work, right down to our everyday lives.”
Quantum computing can help build machines more powerful than supercomputers, and help to address some of the most complex computing problems that the world may face, giving the world headway in critical industries such as medical sciences, financial services, or supply chain.
However, the technology is yet to fully arrive and is currently faced by a number of engineering problems pertaining to the high sensitivity of quantum computing language, which uses qubits (such as individual atoms) instead of the traditional computer binary.
Header image courtesy of Horizon Quantum Computing.
