Quantum Brilliance GmbH, an Australian-German startup that’s aiming to transforming quantum computing using synthetic diamond accelerators, has just closed on a $9.7 million seed funding round.

Main Sequence Ventures and QxBranch Inc.’s founders’ investment consortium co-led today’s round, which also saw participation from CP Ventures, Investible, Jelix Ventures, MA Financial Group Venture Fund, R3I Ventures and Ultratech Capital.

Quantum Brilliance emerged from stealth mode in March touting what it said was the world’s first quantum accelerator that can run at room temperatures.

It’s a potentially significant breakthrough. Quantum computers rely on “qubits” as opposed to the “bits” found in traditional computers. Qubits have the ability to store a value of a zero, a one, or both at the same time, making them inherently more powerful than bits and capable of much faster calculations.

The problem with qubits is that they’re extremely unstable, so the computers need to be stored in extreme environments to work properly. Hence, the likes of Google LLC, IBM Corp. and Rigetti Computing Inc. have all created quantum computers that operate at extremely low temperatures. Those machines work, but they’re not exactly ideal.

Quantum Brilliance believes its synthetic diamond-based quantum accelerators will do away with the need to store qubits at temperatures close to absolute zero. The technology was developed in collaboration with the Australian National University in Canberra and relies on the properties of the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, which helps protect against noise from thermal vibrations and magnetic impurities that can destabilize qubits. As a result, Quantum Brilliance claims on its website, its diamond-based quantum accelerators have the longest coherence time of any solid-state electron spin at room temperature.

The startup says its ultimate goal is to create a fully functional quantum computer that can operate at room temperatures and be installed in data centers, hospitals, mines, space and perhaps one day even inside a laptop. In other words, it wants to make quantum computers an “everyday technology.”

A number of existing quantum computing systems built by the likes of Microsoft Corp. have already been made available to developers as a cloud service. Quantum Brilliance Chief Executive Andrew Horsley told SiliconANGLE that if you change the popular image of a quantum computer from an enormous mainframe to a simple quantum accelerator card that’s small enough to hold in your hands, that will lead to an entirely new spectrum of ideas about how they can be deployed and what tasks they can be applied to.

“So instead of asking, ‘When will this quantum computer outperform a classical supercomputer?’ you will instead be able to ask, ‘When will this quantum computer outperform that CPU or GPU in my desktop computer for that task?'” Horsley said.

In the future, Horsley said, Quantum Brilliance envisions a range of applications for onsite quantum accelerators in mobile and edge scenarios, where it may be necessary to have access to low-latency quantum computing power. In that respect, it’s no different from the advantages edge computing brings over cloud computing today, only it will be scaled up to the quantum level, he explained.

Today’s seed funding round could go some way toward helping Quantum Brilliance achieve its goal of creating handheld quantum accelerators. The company is now actively hiring for 20 roles, including a new vice president of engineering, as well as scientists, physicists, software engineers and control engineers to support its ongoing research, development and engineering efforts.

Shaun Wilson, founder of QxBranch, an Australian quantum computing startup that was acquired by Rigetti in 2019, believes the startup has the potential to become a “globally significant” company. “We are quietly confident Quantum Brilliance has all the foundations in place to reshape the quantum computing industry,” he added.

Quantum Brilliance’s roadmap envisions building lunchbox-size quantum accelerators with more than 50 qubits by 2025. It says that if it can achieve that goal, it will greatly accelerate the adoption of quantum computing applications across a variety of industries.

“It is wonderful to see venture investments in breakthrough research commercialize spinouts like Quantum Brilliance,” said ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt. “The University’s goal to create a billion-dollar company in the next five years will happen through these joint efforts.”

Photo: Quantum Brilliance