Oxford Quantum Circuits - building a quantum-enabled future

by Startacus Admin

The lowdown on Oxford Quantum Circuits, the innovative Reading-based startup that's on a mission to make quantum computing accessible to all.

Quantum physics is bizarre and fascinating. To look deeply into the subject is, we suspect, to invite madness. It’s like looking into a whole other world with different physics to our own. How can the cat be alive and dead? The almost literally incredible nature of quantum physics means that quantum computing - literally computers that harness quantum mechanics to perform their operations - has been a sought after goal ever since quantum mechanics was proven to be real. 

The idea is that by harnessing principles like entanglement (spooky action at a distance), superposition (the cat), and interference would make computers more powerful. And when we say more powerful, we mean 158 million times faster than a traditional supercomputer, and taking only 4 minutes to perform tasks that would take said supercomputer 10,000 years. In theory.

Reading-based tech startup Oxford Quantum Circuits wants to put the future in your hands, with the only commercially-available quantum computing-as-a-service available in the UK or Europe. From the only commercial quantum computing lab in the UK, OQC creates hardware capable of generating low-latency qubit pulses; qubits being the quantum computing, two-state version of bits in traditional computing, using 3-dimensional space rather than the 2D circuits that traditional computers use. 

Those circuits are encountering a bit of a paradox at the moment, because the better and more complex they become, the worse they will eventually be, due to limited physical space in the intricate circuitry causing latency. 

OQC’s proprietary technology - Coaxmon - means no latency, and it means scalability without compromising quality. This potentially enormous leap to quantum computing could mean big breakthroughs in medical and scientific research, new discoveries, better and quicker predictions, huge savings, and boosted AI, among many other things.

In July, Oxford Quantum Circuits announced that it had raised £38 million in a Series A round led by Lansdowne Partners and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, with participation from British Patient Capital and previous investors Oxford Science Enterprises and Oxford Investment Consultants.

This paradigm shift in computing is being led by quantum physicist and founder/CEO Dr Ilana Wisby, who is an advisor to the National Physical Laboratory’s Quantum Metrology Institute and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Future Council on Quantum. So it’s in good hands.

 

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #oxford
• #spinout
• #innovation
• #quantum computing

Published on: 5th August 2022