- “Efficient and scalable quantum computers are the future for industry and science. And our technology shows a clear way to get there,” says Dr. Michael Johanning, CTO and Co-Founder of eleQtron GmbH
- eleQtron secures +€50 million in funding, including venture capital from Earlybird and Siegerlandfonds, to bring high-value qubits out of the lab and into real world applications. Capital raised consists of venture funding, grants and sales
- German Aerospace Center (DLR) awards contract: €82 million for consortium around eleQtron, Parity QC and NXP to drive further expansion of computing capabilities
Siegen, 07. November 2022 – Founded in 2020, the deep tech startup eleQtron proves that future technology is indeed created beyond Silicon Valley. The company has been able to acquire over €50 million in funding from private and public sources. In early 2022, the full-stack quantum computer manufacturer from Siegen secured backing from Earlybird Venture Capital, a leading European investor whose early-stage focus includes deep tech startups, together with the local Siegerlandfonds, the capital investment company of Sparkasse Siegen. In July 2022, the project “MAGIC App”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), started to provide computing time on internationally competitive quantum computers to industry and science, building on the work of Prof. Dr. Christof Wunderlich and Dr. Michael Johanning. The acquisition of this project was already a great success for the spin-off from the University of Siegen. As part of a call for tenders by Quantum computing initiative (QCI) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a consortium consisting of eleQtron, quantum architecture company ParityQC, and chip manufacturer NXP® Semiconductors, has now secured two supply contracts for quantum computers with a total volume of over €82 million.
“The combination of the MAGIC platform with the ParityQC architecture is the ideal combination to build highly scalable ion-trap-based quantum computers. The DLR contract makes our consortium the spearhead of the European quantum industry.”, say Wolfgang Lechner and Magdalena Hauser, Co- CEOs and Co-Founder ParityQC.
“We are very excited to be part of eleQtron and to support this fantastic example of transferring excellent knowledge into relevant core technologies. The goal is to bring high-quality qubits from the lab to real world applications,” says Dr. Frédéric du Bois-Reymond, Partner at Earlybird UNI-X. Apart from winning Earlybird’s interest, eleQtron also convinced DLR’s team of the technology’s potential: another latestgeneration quantum computer is currently being built in Hamburg. For this delivery order, the consortium around eleQtron is building a state-of-the-art quantum computer. In another eleQtron project, the socalled MAGIC technology is being used in preparation for scaling computers to thousands of qubits and more, which will be necessary in the future. “The startup proves that cutting-edge innovations are not only developed in central hubs such as Berlin,” says Dr. Hendrik Brandis, Co-Founder & Partner of lead investor Earlybird.
Jan Henrik Leisse, CEO of eleQtron, comments: “With their enormous performance, quantum computers are far superior to conventional computers. They promise solutions to previously unsolvable problems. And they do so across industries, from materials research in the pharmaceutical or automotive industries to the optimization of logistics systems and risk management in finance.” The unique selling point of eleQtron’s architecture is the globally unique MAGIC technology, which allows qubits to be precisely controlled via microwaves. This is a significant simplification compared to laser control, which is otherwise common but difficult to scale.
On the MAGIC basis, eleQtron plans to build several quantum computers with a gradually increasing performance in the coming years and connect them to the cloud. This will enable them to be used by customers from business and industry. Currently, eleQtron is in contact with various companies and institutions to adapt the hardware to future areas of application. MAGIC App and the orders from DLR are milestones – not only for the Siegen-based startup, but also for the technological sovereignty of Germany as a center of industry. Despite existing academic know-how, there has been a lack of applied research and its commercial use to date. Earlybird’s UNI-X team seeks to address this gap and eleQtron serves a promising example of what is to come.
eleQtron GmbH
eleQtron GmbH is a spin-off from the Department of Quantum Optics at the University of Siegen, founded in 2020. It develops, produces, operates and sells computing time on ion trap-based quantum computers. It is therefore the first German quantum computer manufacturer. In order to become the leading provider of quantum computing time in Germany, the company is currently gradually building more powerful, groundbreaking quantum computers and connecting them to the cloud. To do this, the young company is relying on its proprietary MAGIC (Magnetic Gradient Induced Coupling) technology, which eliminates the need for laser light for coherent control of quantum logic operations and thus shows a clear path to massive scale.
NXP Semiconductors
NXP, headquartered in the Netherlands, is one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies, developing solutions to make our connected world better and safer. The Hamburg site, with around 900 employees, is primarily home to research, development, testing and marketing for several business units. For example, the electronic immobilizer for vehicles and secure computer chips for electronic identification documents such as ID cards or passports were developed at this site. The most important NXP competence centers in Hamburg are Secure Connected Mobility, Cybersecurity, Industry 4.0 and – new – Quantum Computing.
ParityQC
ParityQC is a spin-out of the University of Innsbruck and the world’s only quantum architecture company. It develops architectures for quantum computers and the associated operating system. ParityQC operates globally and develops applications ranging from error-corrected universal quantum computing to solving optimization problems.
Contact information for further requests
eleQtron GmbH
Jan Henrik Leisse, Geschäftsführer
Martinshardt 19
57074 Siegen
E-mail: jan.leisse@eleqtron.com