The Engine has participated in a $21m series A round for its portfolio company Zapata Computing, a quantum technology spinout of Harvard University.
Zapata Computing, a US-based quantum computing spinout of Harvard University, raised $21m in a series A round yesterday that featured the Engine, the incubator formed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing division of mass media conglomerate Comcast, and venture capital firm Prelude Ventures co-led the round.
BASF Venture Capital and Robert Bosch Venture Capital, respective investment subsidiaries of chemicals company BASF and engineering group Robert Bosch, also participated, as did venture capital firms Pitango Ventures and Pillar VC.
Founded in 2017, Zapata Computing is commercialising quantum algorithms that enable high-performance computing in sectors requiring vast processing power, such as chemistry, pharmaceuticals, logistics, finance and materials.
The software platform is hardware-agnostic, operating across devices built by companies such as Google, IBM and Honeywell.
Zapata builds on work led by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, who was a professor at Harvard at the time but has…
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).
