Investment in quantum startups down by 50 percent but interest remains strong

A new report shows a 50 percent global drop in venture capital invested into quantum startups from $2.2 billion in 2022 to around $1.2 billion in 2023. The US saw an even bigger decline at 80 percent, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew by three percent.

The report from IQM Quantum Computers, OpenOcean, a leading European venture capital firm, and Lakestar, the leading European technology investor, attributes the drop to an overall decline in technology investing rather than to falling interest in quantum technology.

Over 30 governments have committed to more than $40 billion in public funding commitments to quantum technologies which will be deployed in the next 10 years. Of these governments actively involved in quantum technologies, over 20 have formulated coordinated policies, funding, and roadmaps.

The findings show that preparation for a quantum era are underway despite the fall in investment. Over 300 end users across sectors like healthcare, financial services, and material sciences are already exploring use cases and building quantum readiness. With quantum advantage potentially years away, these leading organizations are taking steps today to prepare for commercial quantum computing.

Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers, says:

2023 was a year of steady technological progress resulting in larger qubit counts and initial error correction, as companies successfully published and followed quantum roadmaps. We also saw real systems deployed in national labs, steadily crossing into practical applications as we continue the journey to full-scale commercial problem-solving.

However, the algorithmic side remains less predictable. While scaling processors is largely an engineering challenge, estimating timelines for software improvements is more dependent on hardware progress. Still, in 2023, we observed more contributions from non-quantum experts like systems engineers, bringing valuable real-world experience and bringing us closer to solving the talent bottleneck.

You can get the full State of Quantum 2024 report from the IQM site.

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