Quantum software startup Classiq raises new funding from AMD, Qualcomm – News

Classiq Technologies Ltd., a maker of quantum software development tools, today announced that it has raised “tens of millions of dollars” in new funding.

The capital was provided as an extension to a Series C round the company first closed in May. The initial $110 million funding tranche marked the largest-ever raise for a quantum software startup. In July, SoftBank Group Corp. and Italy-based CDP Venture Capital joined the round.

Classiq says the latest extension of its Series C raise included contributions from AMD Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and quantum computer maker IonQ Inc. They were joined by Mirae Asset Capital, LeumiTech77 and Quantum Eretz. The capital infusion boosts the round’s value to more than $200 million.

The complexity of quantum computers is only one of the reasons that writing qubit-compatible software is difficult. The other is that quantum computers differ significantly in their designs. Some include ion-based qubits, while others use light or superconducting transistors to carry out processing. As a result, developers have to rewrite their software for each quantum system on which it will run.

Classiq’s development toolkit removes the need to port code manually. According to the company, engineers can write a quantum program once and run it across multiple systems. Classiq also abstracts away several of the other tasks involved in programming qubits.

The company’s platform provides a quantum-optimized programming language called Qmod. The standard quantum coding workflow requires developers to define not only what tasks a program should perform but also how it should perform them. Classiq says its platform automates the latter step, which saves a significant amount of time.

After developers write a program in Qmod, Classiq’s software tries out thousands of different ways to implement it. It then picks the implementation that requires the least amount of infrastructure. Classiq’s compiler also adapts the code to developer-defined technical requirements. 

According to the company, users who don’t wish to learn its Qmod syntax can code their quantum programs in Python. The latter language is relatively simple to use and comes with numerous open-source libraries. Those libraries include prepackaged components that reduce the amount of code developers have to write from scratch.

Quantum software must be tested before it’s deployed to production much like regular applications. Usually, the testing process involves running code on a simulated quantum computer, which involves certain technical challenges. Classiq provides debugging tools that it says reduce the need for simulations.

The debugger visualizes the data points a quantum program processes, the order in which it does so and the number of qubits it uses. Developers can use the visualization to check that the software works as intended. A feature called Hardware-Circuit Connection makes it possible to test how a program would run on specific quantum chips. 

“As quantum hardware continues to mature, the need for scalable, efficient software becomes even more critical,” said Classiq co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Nir Minerbi.

The company will use the new funds to grow its international go-to-market team and establish more partnerships.

Image: Classiq