ENTROPICA Labs, a Singapore-based startup that builds quantum computing software solutions, has raised S$2.6 million in seed funding led by deep tech investor Elev8.
Other investors in the round included government-owned deep tech investor SGInnovate, early-stage enterprise and deep tech venture capital (VC) firm Wavemaker Partners, Japanese software enterprise group TIS Inc, and talent investor Entrepreneur First.
Family-owned heritage business Lim Teck Lee Group, chaired by Razer-backer Lim Kaling, and VC firm V1 Capital, a main investor of Entropica’s partner, US-based quantum computing startup Rigetti Computing, also participated in the round.
The funding will enable Entropica to expand its technical team and continue the development of its proprietary software architectures. It will also give the company greater access to a growing number of quantum computing systems.
Existing quantum processors are capable of solving problems that even the most powerful supercomputers cannot tackle. However, before quantum computing can reach large-scale adoption, users and researchers will need an extensive software layer analogous to the one that exists for conventional computers, which is what Entropica is working on..
Aditya Mathur, managing director at Elev8, said: “We are at the cusp of massive gains in technology, powered by quantum computing. Entropica Labs’ talented team is building the operating interface that allows programmers to work efficiently on quantum machines. We are excited to see the new scalable applications Entopica will unlock – from artificial intelligence to statistical modelling.”
The company has been collaborating with leading quantum hardware manufacturers including Rigetti Computing, IBM and Microsoft. These partnerships give the startup early access to quantum computing resources and platforms for development and testing, while ensuring that Entropica’s software can integrate with the leading cloud quantum computing platforms.
Co-founders Tommaso Demarie and Ewan Munro are alumni of Singapore’s Centre for Quantum Technologies, and founded Entropica in May 2018. They were later joined, in December 2018, by Joaquin Keller, who was the head of a distributed computing research group at Orange in France.
Mr Demarie now holds the position of chief executive officer at Entropica, while Mr Keller is chief commercial officer and Mr Munro is chief technology officer..
source: businesstimes
