Venture Kick, a private philanthropic initiative, provides as much 150,000 Swiss francs in pre-seed funding to Swiss startups and offers structured, entrepreneurial training to build robust, winning businesses. Entrepreneurs pitch for finance as many as three times, as they compete for increasing amounts of funding at each stage. Founders gain direct feedback from the expert juries and access to an international network of successful entrepreneurs and investors. Venture Kick has supported 600 Swiss startup projects with 24.9 million francs to date. Supported projects have incorporated as 454 active companies, creating 6,033 jobs, and attracting 2.49 billion francs worth of subsequent investment. Companies founded by Venture Kick alums represented 55 percent of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2018.  In 2019 Venture Kick will support idea-stage startup projects with 4.35 million francs, to bring Swiss science to global markets.

Venture Kick

Quantonation is the first VC fund dedicated to Quantum Technologies. Fields such as molecular design, high performance calculation, cybersecurity, drug discovery, or ultra precise sensing are now driven by innovation based on Quantum Technologies. Thanks to its scientific expertise Quantonation aims at supporting the transition of these technologies into commercially available products for industry.

Quantonation

Verve Ventures is a European startup investment platform for qualified and institutional investors. Their fully digital platform enables private investors to build a diversified portfolio with investments starting at CHF/EUR 10'000. Since its launch in 2010, Verve Ventures has invested more than EUR 130 million in over 100 startups. Their community consists of 5’000 registered qualified private investors, family offices, and pension funds. Several institutional investors such as a large Swiss pension fund and numerous corporates also rely on their expertise to invest in promising startups. Verve Ventures is backed by Switzerland's third-largest bank, Zürcher Kantonalbank. They have a dedicated investment team based in Zurich, Lausanne, Berlin, Paris, and Cambridge, that screens thousands of startups each year and selects the top 1% after a rigorous due diligence process. They are reshaping the European venture capital landscape and granting investors superior access to this traditionally intransparent asset class. They source the best deals, and structure rounds, and enable their investors to participate in competitive startup deals.

Verve Ventures

Zürcher Kantonalbank is an independent, incorporated public-law institution is its public service mandate. Enshrined in law, it governs the bank's economic, social, and environmental commitment.

Zürcher Kantonal Bank

The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances tech start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of its fourth fund, HTGF now has about 1.4 billion euros under management. Its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts support young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected about 5 billion euros of capital into the HTGF portfolio via more than 2,000 follow-on financing rounds. In addition, HTGF has already successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies. Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries. Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries.

HTGF | High-Tech Gruenderfonds

Runa Capital is a technology-focused venture capital firm managing two funds – Runa I was launched with $135M in 2010 and has made 33 investments,  Runa II of $135M was launched in 2014 and has made 30 investmerns and Runa III was started in 2019 and is in active investment stage right now.  The fund was established to seek early stage opportunities in the rapidly growing tech sector, with the specific focus on deeptech (AI, ML, open-source), future of computing, fintech infrastructure and enterprise software. Runa brings a team with extensive operational experience and is focused on finding growth businesses that generate revenues, supporting them in the global marketplace and turning them into international champions. Founded by Ilya Zubarev, Serg Bell (founders of Parallels and Acronis) and Dmitry Chikhachev (Ericsson, Ritzio, Uvenco) Runa Capital is run by a team of successful entrepreneurs, most of whom have worked together for over 15 years. It is a united team with broad geographical and cross-industry experience, as well as an extensive professional network. Runa Capital investment team members possess an excellent track record in tech investments.

Runa Capital

An early-stage venture capital targeting funding investments in science, tech, innovative projects

Constructor Capital

Qnami

Qnami develops quantum sensing technologies designed for nanoscale imaging. It unlocks the ability to measure what has never been measurable before, enabling science and industry to improve people’s lives and the world. Qnami's product is used for characterization of MRAM, imaging of proteins, fundamental studies on superconductors, etc.

Switzerland-based Qnami is a quantum tech startup that originated in the University of Basel’s physics department. Qnami uses a quantum sensing mechanism to control and measure the state of a single electron, thereby developing fundamental quantum technologies. The company also specializes in developing diamond-based quantum technologies designed to improve imaging and diagnostic techniques

Quantum information processing is slowly becoming a reality, ushering in a new technological era.

Quantum Computing

Swiss startup Qnami raises €3.6M to develop fundamental new tech using quantum mechanics

Switzerland-based Qnami is a quantum tech startup that originated in the University of Basel’s physics department. Qnami uses a quantum sensing mechanism to control and measure the state of a single electron, thereby developing fundamental quantum technologies. The company also specializes in developing diamond-based quantum technologies designed to improve imaging and diagnostic techniquesFounded in 2016, the company has two main products—Qnami ProteusQ and Quantilever. Qnami ProteusQ is claimed to be the world’s first commercial scanning nitrogen-vacancy (NV) microscope that can provide an innovative platform for analyzing magnetic materials at the nanoscale. Quantilevers are patented technology of diamond probes made with NV centers for scanning NV microscopy applications. The Quantilever technology can be used with Qnami ProteusQ and in other custom environments. In addition, Qnami develops sensitive NV diamond quantum sensors for academic and commercial customers through its Quantum Foundry and allows researchers to use its lab to conduct studies.Key customers and partnershipsIn July 2020, Qnami and Horiba partnered to globally distribute the quantum microscope system Qnami ProteusQ.Funding and financialsIn January 2022, the company secured EUR 2.5 million of grant funding for innovation development costs and up to EUR 15 million of equity investment for scaling up and managing related expenses from the European Innovation Council (EIC).

The UK-based Quantum Motion Technologies is engaged in developing quantum computer architectures based on silicon technology, which are compatible with standard silicon processing (CMOS process). The company believes this approach will enable it to create scalable quantum computers with thousands to millions of qubits. The company is working on a technology platform that is not just a qubit, but a scalable array of qubits based on the ubiquitous silicon technology already used in smartphones and computers.Quantum Motion’s goal is to fast-track the development of true fault-tolerant quantum computers and reach a million qubits and beyond by leveraging existing knowledge in device fabrication within the trillion-dollar silicon industry.Key customers and partnershipsIn February 2024, Quantum Motion entered into a project with the <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26533">National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) </a>to build the UK’s first silicon-based quantum processor test bed in its Oxfordshire site. In November 2023, Quantum Motion partnered with the University of Pennsylvania to further develop its silicon quantum computer chip technology.Funding and financialsThe company raised GBP 42 million (USD 50.5 million) in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16504">Series B </a>funding round in February 2023 led by Bosch Ventures (RBVC). The proceeds were allocated for the development of the company’s quantum processors based on silicon technology.

Quantum Motion Technologies

SeeQC is a quantum hardware startup spun out from Hypres, a leading developer of superconductor integrated circuits. SeeQC was developing a digital system-on-a-chip design that integrates classical and quantum circuits into a hybrid system in order to overcome quantum computers’ current challenges. This also reduces noise and interference, maintaining high-fidelity quantum operations at scale. The company owns and operates superconducting flux quantum (SFQ) processors, a chip fabrication facility that enables the creation of multi-chip quantum computing systems and provides foundry services for superconducting devices. It also has facilities in London, UK, and Naples, Italy.Through the hybrid approach, SeeQC believes it can reduce the cost of quantum computers by 1/400th, provide greater control, and reduce energy requirements significantly.Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2023, the company entered into a collaboration with NVIDIA to develop the first all-digital chip-to-chip link between quantum computers and graphics processing units (GPU). SeeQC has also partnered with multinational chemical company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16298">BASF </a>in February 2023 to explore quantum computing in simulating chemical reactions.&nbsp;&nbsp;

SeeQC

IonQ develops general-purpose quantum computers using trapped-ion technology. Although the company calls itself a full-stack player, its focus has been on developing hardware. In December 2020, it revealed its quantum roadmap that introduced its new metric, “algorithmic qubits (AQ),” which represents the largest number of qubits that can be deployed while maintaining high performance and considering error correction. Its latest system IonQ Aria achieved 20 AQ, as of May 2023. In terms of physical qubits, IonQ’s latest hardware had 32 qubits, which were expected to hold 22 AQs. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23125">October 2023 </a>, the company achieved 29 algorithmic qubits (AQ) using barium qubits for the first time.Founded in 2015, IonQ’s main competitive advantage stems from its approach to designing qubits that allow computers to be operated at room temperature with lower error rates.&nbsp;IonQ unveiled the industry’s first glass-based trapped ion computing chip called the Reconfigurable Multicore Quantum Architecture (RMQA) technology, in August 2021, which the company believes will significantly expand the longevity of qubits and enable at least triple-digit scalability.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31824">July 2024 </a>, the company unveiled an accelerated roadmap with expanded 2025 technical milestones, focused on improving native two-qubit gate performance to over 99.9% (three 9s) in 2025, with further gains expected in 2026 from the transition to barium qubits.Key customers and partnershipsIonQ has entered several strategic partnership including with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25925">Rescale </a>(January 2024) to combine their cloud computing and quantum computing capabilities; <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22265">Air Force Research Lab </a>(September 2023) to deploy two barium-based trapped ion quantum computing systems for quantum networking research and application development in a deal valued at USD 25.5 million; <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21158">BearingPoint </a>(August 2023) to offer its quantum systems and related professional services to the European market; SoftBank Investment Advisers (June 2021) to provide support in deploying the company’s quantum systems globally; and Accenture (September 2021) to accelerate the industrial application of IonQ’s quantum systems.The company offers access to its quantum computer via all major quantum cloud computing platforms including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Marketplace (GCM). It is also integrated with major software development kits (SDK) including IBM Qiskit and Google Cirq. In May 2023, IonQ began offering its IonQ Aria system on Amazon Braket.

IonQ

<div>
 
 Rigetti is an end-to-end provider of general-purpose quantum computers. The company&rsquo;s approach to developing computers is based on superconducting qubit technology, similar to Google and IBM. Since 2017, the company has operated a cloud-based quantum platform that allows developers to either create applications or use Rigetti&rsquo;s virtual machine.&nbsp;
 
 
 Rigetti is well-positioned to compete with incumbents as well as startups because of its advancements in hardware, which is currently used by 14 other companies (mostly other quantum software startups). Rigetti introduced the world&rsquo;s first multi-chip quantum processor, in June 2021, that physically connects multiple chips with their own qubits in a single functional processor, which is expected to improve scalability. It also launched its first commercially available 80-qubit quantum system in February 2022, which exceeds the qubit count of any other startup, but is lower than that of IBM.&nbsp;
 
 
 In June 2022, the company expanded its geographical presence with the launch of its 32-qubit, cloud-based 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11308">
 Aspen system in the UK
 </a>
 market. It also strengthened its position in the software segment via the acquisition of QxBranch (a Washington-based quantum computing software company) in 2019. In December 2023, the company launched its first 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24731">
 Quantum Processing Unit (QPU)
 </a>
 , Novera, which is based on its fourth-gen Ankaa-class architecture. The price of the QPU starts from USD 900,000.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In July 2021, the company partnered with Astex Pharmaceuticals to apply quantum technology to drug discovery. This partnership was a stepping stone for Rigetti to commercially apply quantum computing to the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, as part of an InnovateUK grant, the company partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11334">
 Riverlane
 </a>
 in June 2022 to explore and develop error correction solutions. In October 2023, the company was awarded with a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22419">
 (DARPA) 
 </a>
 contract as part of the Imagining Practical Applications for a Quantum Tomorrow (IMPAQT) program to advance quantum algorithms for solving combinatorial optimization problems. In January 2024, the company collaborated with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25242">
 Moody&rsquo;s Analytics
 </a>
 to enhance machine-learning methods for the financial sector using quantum computing abilities. In February 2024, Rigetti Computing and Riverlane joined a project led by the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27062">
 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
 </a>
 , a part of the US Department of Energy (DOE), to explore the possibility of integrating a quantum computer and high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Rigetti 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8880">
 went public
 </a>
 on Nasdaq under the ticker &ldquo;RGTI,&rdquo; in March 2022 via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger. The IPO raised USD 261.8 million and made Rigetti the second publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company, following IonQ. 
 
</div>

Rigetti Computing

PsiQuantum develops general-purpose quantum computers based on the silicon photonic approach, a relatively new method that is capable of using the existing silicon supply chain of conventional electronics. This will help the company keep production costs low and provide scalability. Its semiconductor roadmap involves interconnecting multiple quantum processor chips with optical fibers and high-performance optical switches to enable teleportation and entanglement of single-photon operations between chips.PsiQuantum's technology uses individual photons, particles of light, as qubits. This approach offers several advantages, including the ability to operate at higher temperatures compared to other qubit technologies, compatibility with fiber-optic networks, and resistance to electromagnetic interference. Additionally, photons can maintain quantum states for relatively long periods, allowing more quantum operations and increased computational power.The company aims to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer with one million physical qubits by the end of 2027, enabling error correction and addressing complex problems across various industries.In <a href="https://www.psiquantum.com/news-import/psiquantum-opens-uk-based-research-facility-to-develop-next-generation-high-power-cryogenic-systems-for-large-scale-quantum-computing">March 2023</a>, PsiQuantum opened an advanced R&amp;D facility at the Daresbury Laboratory in the UK, backed by GBP 9 million from the UK Government's Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology. This facility provides access to one of Europe's largest liquid-helium cryogenic plants, essential for testing PsiQuantum's approach to storing quantum chips at extremely low temperatures.Key customers and partnershipsWorking toward its goal, in May 2021, PsiQuantum entered a partnership with global chip manufacturer <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2245">GlobalFoundries</a> (GF) to build an integrated, silicon photonics-based quantum system called the “Q1 system” by manufacturing quantum chips in GF’s semiconductor foundry. This partnership also received US federal funding of <a href="https://www.schumer.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-announces-25-million-for-globalfoundries-and-psiquantum-to-develop-the-next-generation-of-quantum-computers-at-rome-air-force-research-lab-and-malta-campus-fed-funding-will-strengthen-national-security-supercharge-us-technological-competitiveness_ensure-upstate-new-york-continues-to-lead-quantum-technology">USD 25 million</a> in April 2022.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13868">October 2022</a>, the company secured a USD 22.5 million contract from the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to co-design advanced quantum photonic chips that will be manufactured by GF. The company partnered with Japanese quantum software company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7246">QunaSys</a> in December 2021 to research quantum-based industrial chemistry and material science solutions and partnered with the UK-based Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22518">Hartree Centre</a> in October 2023 to develop Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing (FTQC) applications in the UK. In January 2024, PsiQuantum and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25972">Mitsubishi UFJ </a>Financial Group (MUFG) entered PsiQuantum's Qlimate initiative project with Mitsubishi Chemical to research energy-efficient materials to promote a low-carbon economy.In May 2023, PsiQuantum received a USD 25 million grant from the US Department of Defense, through the Air Force Research Laboratory, for tooling and further development of its photonic quantum computer.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29499">April 2024</a>, the company secured AUD 940 million (USD 620 million) from the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland Governments to establish the first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Australia. Notably, PsiQuantum is one of the highest privately funded startup in the industry.

PsiQuantum

Hardware manufacturers for quantum computers or quantum-adjacent products.

Developers of quantum algorithms and software programs for specific industries such as pharmaceuticals or finance.

Full-stack companies offering hardware and software quantum computing solutions.


Companies developing quantum computing hardware using either gate-based or annealing technology.

Developers of quantum system software such as firmware, operating systems, compilers, qubit control software, etc.

Companies offering access to quantum hardware through either their own hardware or through a third party via the cloud.

Startups in this space offer solutions for building enterprise-specific applications and automations

Qnami

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