Quantum computing spinout Zapata has emerged from stealth with a $5.4m seed round from investors including the Engine.
Harvard University has officially unveiled US-based quantum computing spinout Zapata Computingn with $5.4m in seed funding co-led by the Engine, backed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Machine intelligence-focused venturing firm Pillar VC co-led the round, which also featured participation from Prelude Ventures and Founders Fund’s FF Science vehicle. The funding had already been disclosed in a securities filing before Zapata’s public launch.
Founded in 2017, Zapata Computing is commercialising quantum computing technologies that draw on quantum algorithms research led by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard.
Four members of Aspuru-Guzik’s research group – Yudong Cao, Jonathan Olson, Peter Johnson and Jonathan Fontalvo – have joined the spinout as co-founders. Aspuru-Guzik’s group will leave Harvard for University of Toronto in July 2018.
Christopher Savoie, a serial entrepreneur who was previously involved in a project that led to the creation of consumer electronics company Apple’s voice assistant Siri, is also a co-founder.
Reed Sturtevant, general partner at the Engine, has joined Zapata’s board as a director alongside Russ Wilcox, a partner at Pillar VC.
Aspuru-Guzik, who is also chief science officer of Zapata Computing, said: “Quantum computer algorithms are very different than algorithms for classical computers.
“When quantum computers are large enough, we will be able to use quantum algorithms to solve computational problems in a variety of fields, including materials design and machine learning.”
