Quantum computing startup ZuriQ gets $25.5M to scale 2D trapped-ion processor design
Investors are throwing money at quantum computers again, with the Swiss startup ZuriQ AG becoming the latest beneficiary of their largesse after closing on a $25.5 million seed funding round. The investment was led by Quantonation and saw the participation of Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures and all of the startup’s existing backers, building on a previously undisclosed $4.2 million pre-seed round that closed when it spun out of ETH Zürich last year.
ZuriQ is the latest in a long line of startups trying to solve the problem of scaling quantum computers, which continues to befuddle some of the world’s brightest minds. The problem is that the fundamental building blocks of quantum computers, known as “qubits,” are extremely sensitive to environmental noise. Qubits are so sensitive, in fact, that even something as faint as the vibration caused by a pin dropping on the floor could be enough to disrupt their state, leading to errors in quantum calculations.
Trapped-ion systems have long been positioned as a potential solution to the problem of qubit instability, yet the companies that have attempted to build them have struggled to achieve the scale required to build systems large enough to perform meaningful calculations. According to ZuriQ’s co-founder and Chief Executive Dr. Pavel Hrmo, the reason is that they’re still reliant on a legacy architecture that was first proposed over two decades ago. He explained that these legacy designs are based on ions held in one-dimensional, single-file chains stitched into large grids using complex junctions. But this architecture severely restricts their ability to scale. As such, trapped-ion systems have only been able to grow one qubit at a time, preventing anyone from creating the thousands of qubits needed to build a commercially viable quantum computer.
