Sequoia leads extended seed round of Horizon Quantum Computing

HORIZON Quantum Computing, a local developer of programming tools for quantum computers, has secured additional seed funding in a round led by Sequoia Capital India, bringing its total seed capital raised to S$4.5 million.

Horizon's existing investors, SGInnovate, Abies Ventures, DCVC, Qubit Protocol, Summer Capital, and Posa CV, also participated in the extended seed round, the startup said in a Tuesday press release. It previously raised seed funding from SGInnovate in November 2018.

Horizon was founded in 2018 by quantum computing specialist Dr Joe Fitzsimmons. The startup said that it has developed methods to accelerate conventional computer programs using quantum techniques. It plans to use the fresh funds to bring its technology to market and to strengthen its team.

Quantum computing is a nascent field where principles of quantum physics are applied to fundamentally change how computers store and process data.

"The conventional approach to developing quantum applications is to explicitly specify the individual steps of a quantum algorithm, or to use a library where such explicit steps are specified," said Dr Tan Si-Hui, the startup's chief science officer.

"What makes our approach unique is that we construct quantum algorithms directly from conventional source code, automatically identifying places where it can be sped up," she added.

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Dr Lim Jui, chief executive of SGInnovate, said: "We view quantum computing as an emerging technology that will become inevitable in the future. Five, ten years or beyond, we are certain that quantum technology will be a game-changer and will have a tremendous impact on the world - from how governments and organisations work, right down to our everyday lives."