Chattanooga startup accelerator The Company Lab (CO.LAB) has launched the inaugural cohort of CO.LAB Q, a 12-month quantum commercialization studio designed to bridge the gap between technical proof-of-concept and enterprise deployment. Commencing in November 2026, the four selected companies—RidgeQuantum, Superquantum, esoteriq, and Kottackal Business Solutions—will follow structured commercialization roadmaps, connecting directly with regional quantum testbeds, technical partners, and prospective customers across the Tennessee Valley.
| CO.LAB Q Inaugural Cohort & Technical Workstreams | ||
|---|---|---|
| Startup | Core Technical Specialization | Commercial Workstream & Deployment Scope |
| RidgeQuantum | Continuous-Variable QKD (CV-QKD) | Commercializing ORNL-licensed CV-QKD hardware built on standard telecom components; validating deployment over EPB fiber for critical infrastructure security. |
| Superquantum | Fault-Tolerant Compilation & Orchestration | Benchmarking logical resource estimation, optimization, and execution tooling across hardware platforms for quantum hardware developers and system operators. |
| esoteriq | Quantum Data Encoding & Workload Feasibility | Developing Rune to estimate the computational cost and feasibility of encoding classical datasets onto physical QPUs using representative customer workloads. |
| Kottackal Business Solutions | Quantum Sensing & Infrastructure Intelligence | Integrating quantum electromagnetic sensors, secure networking, and data fusion to establish asset-monitoring pilots with regional energy and battery operators. |
Supported by founding partners including EPB, Quantinuum, Davidson Technologies, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), Middle Tennessee Electric, Quantum Machines, and Classiq, alongside research collaboration from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the studio provides the cohort with structured commercial milestones. Each venture begins with a commercialization readiness assessment evaluating technological and market fit, followed by periodic reviews with dedicated advisory boards.
The program leverages Chattanooga’s concentrated quantum infrastructure, including the EPB Quantum Center’s on-premises IonQ Forte Enterprise trapped-ion system and municipal quantum communications network. The selected companies address distinct operational bottlenecks across the quantum stack: Superquantum and esoteriq target software compilation, data-loading overheads, and logical resource planning, while RidgeQuantum and Kottackal conduct field evaluations of secure communications and sensor integration on regional utility and energy infrastructure.
Official program announcements and regional coverage are accessible via CO.LAB’s Official Announcement here, Teknovation here, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press Report here. Readers can also review related QCR reporting on EPB’s hardware and network infrastructure in EPB Commissions IonQ Forte Enterprise Quantum Computer in Chattanooga Hub here and operational power-grid benchmarks in EPB and IonQ Deploy Hybrid Trapped-Ion Algorithms on Forte Enterprise to Optimize Power Grid Topology here.
November 7, 2026