Horizon Quantum is part of a new group of startups that are focused on developing new tools for creating software for quantum computers. The Singapore-based company, which is hardware independent, but also entered into a close partnership with Rigetti Computing in 2018, announced today that it has raised a $ 3.23 million round of financing led by Sequoia Capital India. Previous investors such as SGInnovate, Abies Ventures, DCVC, Qubit Protocol, Summer Capital and Posa CV also participated.
At its core, Horizon Quantum aims to democratize quantum development. Since quantum computers are very difficult to use intuitively, the company believes that new tools will be required to help today's developers fight quantum. What makes Horizon so unique is that it uses conventional source code and then automatically analyzes it to find out where a quantum computer could speed up an algorithm. The company can currently identify potential accelerations in code written for Matlab and Octave.
“The traditional approach to developing quantum applications is to explicitly specify the steps of a quantum algorithm or to use a library that specifies such explicit steps. What makes our approach unique is that we build quantum algorithms directly from traditional source code and automatically identify locations where it can be accelerated, ”said Si-Hui Tan, chief science officer at Horizon Quantum. “Everything that has to do with quantum mechanics happens in our compiler under the hood and during operation. This automation reduces the need for quantum knowledge. All our users have to do is provide their program in a traditional programming language. "
Joe Fitzsimons (CEO) and Si-Hui Tan (CSO) from Horizon Quantum.
At the same time, the company's tools make life easier for experienced quantum software developers by giving them the tools to write more concise code that is also automatically optimized for the underlying quantum processors.
“We are building a compiler that goes from conventional, classic code to the other Quantum Hardware, ”said Joe Fitzsimons, CEO of Quantum Horizon, in an email. "We are still building and we still have a lot of work to do, but we have demonstrated important parts of the technology, from identifying accelerations in classic code to characterizing and mitigating errors." Quantum Processors. We hope it will do Quantum Computers are more accessible to millions of software developers and allow us to use them Quantum Computers in new areas (we're thinking specifically about areas such as geophysics for the energy sector and computational fluid dynamics for the aerospace and automotive sectors). "
The company says it will use the new means to bring its technology to the market and connect with its early customers.
