Even though banks and hedge funds are still several years out from adding quantum computing to their tech arsenals, that hasn't stopped Wall Street giants from investing time and money into the emerging technology class.
And momentum for QC Ware, a startup looking to cut the time and resources it takes to use quantum computing, is accelerating. The fintech secured a $25 million Series B on September 29 co-led by Koch Disruptive Technologies and Covestro with participation from D.E. Shaw, Citi, and Samsung Ventures.
QC Ware, founded in 2014, builds quantum algorithms for the likes of Goldman Sachs (which led the fintech's Series A), Airbus, and BMW Group. The algorithms, which are effectively code bases that include quantum processing elements, can run on any of the four main public-cloud providers.
Quantum computing allows companies to do complex calculations faster than traditional computers by using a form of physics that runs on quantum bits as opposed to the traditional 1s and 0s that computers use. This is especially helpful in banking for risk analytics or algorithmic trading, where executing calculations milliseconds faster than the competition can give firms a leg up.
"With all of our investors, with every one, there is a strategic dimension to the investment," QC Ware CEO Matt Johnson told Insider. "Almost every one of our investors cares about having a front-row seat as the technology develops."
And while quantum computing has significant potential, the resources required to use it are still too great to be more cost effective than traditional computers.
QC Ware aims to mitigate that by designing algorithms that reduce the resource requirements of quantum computers by using the minimum amount of steps to solve the problem.
For instance, QC Ware's collaboration with Goldman Sachs to design an algorithm to speed derivatives pricing calculations reduced the wait time for the required quantum hardware from 10 years to five, said Yianni Gamvros, QC Ware head of business development.
Since each algorithm is built per use case, QC Ware will use the new funds to double its team to 60, staffing up on quantum engineers to build the specialized algorithms and software engineers to build out a more expansive cloud service.
