A new British Commercial Fund has received major support from Qatar to accelerate investment in Quantum computer Start-UPS, marking the highest vote of confidence in one of the UK’s fastest growing deep industries.
firgun ventures, founded by Academic and former Culture Trip Kris Naudts and Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Zeynep Koruturk, closed its first round of investment at $ 70 million). The biggest contribution came from the Qatar Investment Authority (QI), with additional funding from several family offices and Ilyas Khan, the quantum computer giant quantininuum, which recently eroded to $ 10 billion.
Firgun aims to build a fund of $250 million, but will start sending money immediately from the London Base, focusing on low-quality firms in the UK and abroad.
“There is a very good set of investment opportunities here,” said Naudats, explaining the strong foundations of education in the UK with quantum research and the concentration of talent within the Oxford-Cambridge London Triangle. According to an analysis from the Tony Blair Institute, the UK is home to 64 of the 513 dedicated Quantun, to put it only in the United States.
NAUDTS said the UK’s challenge is not new but the availability of capital – a gap it does not believe Firgun can fill. “Kudos to the UK for the second quantum start-up in the world – the country is not that big,” he said.
Firgun’s leadership team brings a very unusual combination of backgrounds to the industry. NAUDTS is a trained doctor and Psychiatrist turned tech entrepreneur, while Koruturk previously held senior roles at Golden Sachs. These two went back to quotynuum, investing back in 2016.
Quantum Computing is widely regarded as a major breakthrough in technology. By processing data at an unprecedented speed, quantum machines can solve complex scientific and mathematical problems far beyond the existing supercomputers – opening professors in Materials Science, the Cleveland model, the effectiveness of drugs.
For the Naudts, work has come back to itself. After leaving the cultural tour, he says he had a bad diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease, an experience that strengthens his belief that quantum computing will revolutionize diagnosis and treatment. “Quantum will be able to improve the diagnosis and treatment of many health problems,” he said.
The Firgun operation will now begin to evaluate early investment, positioning itself as a close player to London in the Global Race to Commialize Quantum Technologies – with Qatari Capital Help build momentum.
