Doug Finke

Scaling the Quantum Ecosystem in the Netherlands Overview In this episode of The Quantum Spin by HKA, host Veronica Combs discusses the barriers to scaling quantum hardware and how QuantWare is removing them with the company’s co-founder and CEO Matthijs Rijlaarsdam. QuantWare’s technology platform helps customers build exponentially more powerful quantum computers. The company also runs a fab that produces quantum chips. Matt credits the Dutch government’s early and sustained financial support for the country’s strong quantum ecosystem. Tune in to understand how QuantWare fits into the full stack ecosystem in the Netherlands.  Matthijs Riljarrsdam has a background in Quantum Information [...]

Commutator Studios GmbH, a quantum software startup focused on solving one of the key barriers to scalable quantum computing—quantum error management—has raised €1.5 million ($1.74M USD) in seed funding. The round was led by Munich-based Backtrace Capital and U.S.-based Preston-Werner Ventures, joined by HBG and Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and cofounder of IQM Quantum Computers. Founded by Harvard researchers Dr. César A. Rodríguez Rosario and Dr. Jan M. Knaup, Commutator Studios is developing a hardware-agnostic Quantum Error Management Platform designed to improve quantum software performance and reliability across all major hardware platforms. Dr. Rodríguez Rosario is recognized globally for his work [...]

In a move to strengthen France’s sovereign position in quantum computing, Quobly and Inria have announced a comprehensive R&D partnership focused on building a scalable, fault-tolerant silicon-based quantum architecture. The alliance combines Quobly’s expertise in quantum microelectronics with Inria’s leadership in digital science and control software to develop a fully integrated quantum stack—from hardware to middleware. The collaboration targets a critical challenge in the industry: aligning low-level control and middleware software with the physical layer of quantum processors. Together, the two organizations will co-design error correction protocols and middleware tailored to the unique characteristics of silicon qubits, aiming to close the [...]

QpiAI, a vertically integrated quantum and AI technology firm, has secured $32 million USD (INR 279 crore) in Series A funding. The round was led by Avataar Ventures and India’s National Quantum Mission (NQM), with participation from both new and existing investors. Founded by Dr. Nagendra Nagaraja, QpiAI has developed a proprietary full-stack quantum computing platform combining custom hardware and advanced software aimed at real-world enterprise applications. The company’s current deployments span domains such as materials science and drug discovery and include customers from global automotive and life sciences sectors. QpiAI’s team includes more than two dozen Ph.D. researchers with backgrounds [...]

By George Likourezos, Esq. For quantum technology companies, protecting intellectual property (IP) is essential for safeguarding innovations, securing market advantages, and attracting investors. As these companies strive to bring new technologies—such as quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communications—to market, patent protection becomes one of their most valuable assets. Two key tools in optimizing the patenting process are the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Track One program and the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). These strategies provide faster, more efficient patent examination processes, which are particularly beneficial for companies in fast-moving industries like quantum technologies, where time-to-market is critical. Track One: [...]

By Doug Finke When I was a young product manager at Intel, the corporate executives used to teach classes to the employees on a variety of topics to improve their skills. I remember taking the Constructive Confrontation course from Andy Grove was really striking. But one course I think that is still very relevant for today's quantum industry was a course on marketing given by Bill Davidow who was VP of Marketing at the time and later started the Mohr Davidow Venture firm. When I took the course, Bill’s main thesis was that technology companies that want to be successful shouldn’t [...]

Schematic Picture of a Tetron Showing the Hybrid Nanowires, Backbone, Quantum Dots, & Junctions (left)and a Simplified Diagram of it (right) Microsoft has just released a technical paper showing progress they have made with their topological qubit research since the APS meeting last March. Specifically, they have performed single-shot interferometric measurements of the fermion parity for the two loops designed into the tetron structure. These measurements implement Pauli-X and Z measurements of the tetron, which are critical steps for the measurement-based quantum computer they are developing. The Pauli-X measurement is accomplished with a fermion parity measure along two places in a [...]

As a secondary offering to the funding that SandboxAQ announced in April from Google, NVIDIA, Ray Dalio, and others, the company has raised an additional $95 Million from investors including Rizvi Traverse, Forge Global, and the Ava Family Office. The company has received total funding of almost $1 billion and has a current valuation of that is now over $5.6 billion. Although much of SandboxAQ's work is in the AI space, it also has efforts in the quantum sensor and quantum cybersecurity areas. Additional information is available in a blog posted on the SandboxAQ website here. July 11, 2025

The Dutch Kansen voor West (KvW) program has invested €1 million ($1.17M USD) in Project HAVIK, a collaborative initiative aimed at achieving state-of-the-art two-qubit gate fidelity. This project brings together three market leaders from Delft: QuantWare, Qblox, and Delft Circuits, with QuantWare leading the effort. Attaining high two-qubit gate fidelity is crucial for the performance of superconducting qubits, enabling complex quantum algorithms and quantum error correction. Project HAVIK addresses the entire quantum computing stack, with each company leveraging its unique expertise: QuantWare, a leading provider of scalable quantum processors, will focus on refining its qubit architecture to optimize control over qubit-qubit [...]

IBM has issued a new minor release, version 2.1, to its Qiskit Software Development Platform. As mentioned in our earlier report last April with the release of Qiskit 2.0, IBM will continue evolve this software to provide additional functionality and performance to improve the user experience. Sometimes when new releases are provided, they will have incompatibilities with application programs originally developed under an older version of Qiskit. However, IBM has indicated that this will not happen when there is a minor update such as this upgrade from 2.0 to 2.1. A key new feature in this release is the extension of [...]