Qedma, an Israel-based company specializing in solutions for quantum computing errors, has secured $26 million in Series A funding. IBM is among the new investors in this round, which was led by Glilot Capital Partners. Korean Investment Partners and existing supporters including TPY Capital also participated.
The company was founded in 2020 by Technion physicist Netanel Lindner, Asif Sinay, and Hebrew University professor Dorit Aharonov. They identified insights into noise patterns in quantum devices and error correction strategies. Qedma aims to tackle the critical issue of quantum noise resilience and plans to demonstrate quantum advantage through collaborations with various companies and research institutions.
According to the start-up, quantum computing faces significant challenges due to errors that arise as systems grow in size and complexity. Existing error correction techniques, although theoretically effective, require substantial overhead. This often involves up to 1,000 qubits to correct errors for a single qubit.
Qedma’s software is engineered to accelerate progress towards practical quantum computing by reducing these errors. It enhances hardware performance and enables larger-scale computations than currently possible.
Qedma’s new funding milestone
The company’s solution involves executing a protocol when a user requests a quantum algorithm. This protocol identifies the noise characteristics unique to each device and adjusts the algorithm to suppress specific types of errors. Remaining errors are mitigated through post-processing methods.
As technology advances, Qedma aims to integrate proprietary error correction techniques combined with mitigation strategies for increased reliability. Qedma CEO and co-founder Sinay stated, “While the industry is making massive investments in quantum computing infrastructure and scaling the number of qubits, our platform-agnostic approach allows us to extract maximum value from existing hardware across all quantum computing architectures. By accelerating the timeline to practical quantum computing, we’re establishing a fundamental foundation that will become even more crucial as quantum systems scale.”
In September 2024, Qedma joined forces with IBM to offer its Quantum Error Suppression and Error Mitigation (QESEM) software via the latter’s Qiskit Functions platform.
This collaboration focuses on addressing noise-induced errors in quantum operations. These errors present a major challenge in achieving Quantum Advantage, where quantum computers surpass classical systems in practical applications. By integrating QESEM, quantum developers, data scientists, and computational scientists are expected to interact with systems as seamlessly as they do with classical ones.
This approach allows for the efficient execution of quantum algorithms without the need for extensive qubit overhead. Emily Fontaine, IBM venture capital global head, commented, “Qedma continues to make meaningful contributions that are progressing the quantum computing space at a pivotal time in the industry. We’re excited to see their next chapter as they scale their impact, working towards their mission to advance quantum computation and provide error reduction software solutions to the quantum ecosystem.”
Kirstie a technology news reporter at DevX. She reports on emerging technologies and startups waiting to skyrocket.
