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One area of deep tech we’ve not really looked at here at PreSeed Now is quantum technology.

That’s surprising, as it’s an increasingly hot area with plenty going on. Also, it’s an area I’ve learned quite a lot about in recent years.

Earlier this week I was over in the Netherlands, meeting some noteworthy quantum startups. That experience served as inspiration to give you a primer in quantum.

This won’t be new information to every PreSeed Now reader, but I suspect it will be a useful introduction for many. We’ve got new startups lined up to bring you next week, so look out for regular Tuesday and Thursday startup profiles then.

– Martin

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What to know about quantum tech… when you don’t understand quantum physics

It might be behind AI in terms of tech hype right now, but quantum technology is attracting growing investment and interest.

But many people don’t understand quantum tech, are intimidated by its complexity, or are jaded by the quantum computing hype in years gone by.

As someone who has worked with the quantum sector for the past few years, I’ve learned a lot about the technology, its potential, and how to think about this really interesting field of deep tech, so I thought I’d share a primer with you today.

If you’re involved in the deep tech world, you’ll probably come across quantum startups. So, it’s worth being ready with some basic knowledge about the space to get you started.

Note: I have worked in a paid capacity with some quantum technology companies from the Netherlands, including some mentioned in this article. I have previously worked with Quantum Delta NL’s Infinity programme to support Dutch quantum startups.

What is quantum technology? 

Put simply, quantum technology is built around the principles of quantum physics. Terms like ‘superposition’ and ‘entanglement’ are common here, and will take you well beyond what you learned in GCSE Physics at school into mind-bending territory that can be hard to get to grips with.

This is enough to put some people off quantum.

But here’s the thing: you don’t NEED to understand quantum physics to understand the quantum technology landscape.

I’m sure most PreSeed Now readers can’t explain how a semiconductor works, or the atomic-level process of how an instruction from a piece of software runs through a computer to result in something happening on your smartphone’s screen. And yet most PreSeed Now readers understand the technology sector perfectly well regardless.

So why do you need to understand things like how and why a qubit works to get an understanding of quantum tech?

With that out of the way, let’s dig into some detail…

Quantum technology typically falls under three umbrellas:

Quantum computing:

The most hyped area of quantum tech promises to solve problems that classical computers (e.g., your laptop, smartphone, or a high-performance computing cluster) would take an impractically long time to solve.

A popular example of this is making Shor’s algorithm practically useful for decrypting today’s encrypted data (a horrific thought, but a very real possibility). Other examples of use cases for sufficiently powerful quantum computers include improving drug discovery processes, running molecular simulations to study diseases, optimising complex processes and strategies.

There are companies building, and in some cases selling, quantum computers right now, but true ‘quantum advantage’ (the ability for quantum computing to solve a problem that classical computers can’t solve in a feasible amount of time) has yet to arrive.

And yet advances in quantum computing keep coming. Google’s Willow announcement in December 2024 helped spur fresh excitement in the field. Quantum computing companies like Alice & Bob, IQM, and Quantinuum have raised big money in recent months. Just last week, PsiQuantum announced a $1 billion raise that included funding from NVIDIA’s venture arm. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang has certainly changed his mind about the quantum space lately, after beginning the year as a market-moving sceptic. 

Ask a range of quantum tech experts when true quantum advantage will arrive, and you’ll get a range of answers (I know, I have!). But 2029 is now a common date being bandied around by companies like Quantinuum and IBM, far sooner than was commonly thought not so long ago.

Advances in quantum error correction (moving towards making the output of quantum computers more reliably scalable) and algorithms have helped spur this optimism. Other experts I’ve spoken to this year have given timelines a little later, perhaps 2030 to 2035, but that’s still not far away at all.

But don’t expect mass-market quantum computers to be around the corner.

Production of market-ready quantum computers would need to be scaled up, and software to run on them still needs to be developed for specific tasks.

In addition to companies like Quantinuum, IBM, and IQM, which sell and/or are working on full-stack quantum computers, other companies like QuantWare, QphoX, Qblox, and Orange Quantum Systems are building tech that focuses on individual components and workflows of a quantum computing system. This points to a future where computers could be commonly constructed from tech from multiple vendors. 

While we wait for this quantum computing future to materialise, some companies focused on quantum computing software have started offering ‘quantum-inspired’ software that takes advantage of quantum algorithms on classical computers.

Quantum sensing:

Quantum sensing is a field capable of producing highly precise measurements for a range of use cases.

A popular use case right now in the defence and aerospace world is navigation. Eastern Europe is being blighted by GPS jamming incidents, where planes suddenly lose their location and crews have to rely on traditional maps to navigate until GPS returns. Russia is widely suspected of being behind these attacks, which are at best a nuisance and at worst incredibly dangerous.

One example of this technology in mature, active development is Australian company Q-CTRL, which has demonstrated quantum navigation at sea, on the ground and in the air. 

Quantum sensing tech is sometimes close to commercialisation, but not quite there yet (miniaturisation is one common challenge). However, an example of quantum sensing on the market today is QT Sense, which sells tech to enable early diagnosis of conditions such as sepsis, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular diseases.

Quantum communication:

The third major area of quantum technology is communication. This centres around the ability to create highly secure communication channels that protect data from unauthorised access and from future quantum computers that could break existing encryption. A problem quantum that causes, it can also solve!

Point-to-point quantum communication is an established technology these days, but companies like Q*Bird are working on tech to scale up quantum communication networks that can allow multi-node, switchable connections. 

This is particularly appealing for critical infrastructure. Q*Bird’s tech can be found as part of a large-scale test of quantum secure communication across the Port of Rotterdam. 

One area where quantum communication can prove very useful (and there’s plenty of work in this direction) is securing communication between Earth and satellites, which can be high-value or even critical to national security.

Take the idea further, and we move towards a future ‘quantum internet’ that would allow secure communication around the world and enable distributed quantum computing. 

Further reading

I conducted a lot of the research, interviews, and writing behind QDNL Infinity reports on quantum use cases in telecoms, energy, and health and life sciences.

They’re worth a look if you want to better understand the practical potential of quantum technology, with lots of expert input and practical examples.

Know an early-stage, UK-based quantum tech startup we should profile in PreSeed Now? Let me know.

Back on Tuesday

We’ve got some startups worthy of your attention lined up for editions on Tuesday and Thursday next week. See you in your inbox then!