Singapore’s Horizon Quantum Computing Raises Seed Funding from SG Innovate & Five Other VCs

(Independent) Singapore’s state innovation investment fund SG Innovate has backed a quantum computing startup that was founded by Irish physicist Dr. Joe Fitzsimons. His firm, Horizon Quantum Computing, has raised seed funding from SG Innovate and five other venture capital firms. Fitzsimons declined to reveal how much the firm has raised, only confirming that it was less than €6m.
Horizon’s goal is to make it easier for software developers to harness the full power of quantum computing. “We’re building these programming tools because you can’t run conventional computer code on a quantum computer and expect it to perform faster. You need to harness quantum interference to see any advantage. This needs new instructions, and is quite counter-intuitive,” Fitzsimons said. “We’re trying to abstract the computational model so that software developers won’t need a background in quantum computing in order to work with it.”
He said the firm would raise a series A round in the near future, declining to put a timeframe on it, adding that Dublin, Ireland would be among the locations under consideration when Horizon seeks to open its second office, for which it would need to hire graduate and PhD level software developers.
Singapore is among the top seven centres globally for quantum computing, he said, adding: “I’ve enjoyed a lot of support here.”