Venture View: Ion Hauer from Apex Ventures on how neutral atoms can deliver on quantum’s commercial promises

By Marc Ambasna-Jones 16 Oct 24 Reading time: 5 mins

“At Apex we made our bet and invested in planqc,” says Ion Hauer, principal at Apex Ventures, a deep-tech and medical focused venture capital firm headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Hauer means that Apex is choosing to back neutral atom-based quantum systems, one of a number of quantum platforms currently in development.

Founded in 2022, planqc is a spinout from the renowned Max Planck Institute in Munich. Apex got involved in early 2023 (alongside Hermann Hauser’s Amadeus Capital fund) and Hauer believes this could be the first of many companies to emerge from the so-called Munich Quantum Valley.

“Neutral atoms are highly scalable, and we believe this technology will make significant breakthroughs in the coming years”

Hauer hails from the beautiful gothic town of Heidelberg, in the south west of Germany. Heidelberg is one of the world’s oldest universities but it’s also where Hauer gained his PhD in Physics. He knows his stuff and for Hauer, planqc’s approach makes a lot of sense.

“Neutral atoms are highly scalable, and we believe this technology will make significant breakthroughs in the coming years,” he says, pointing towards other neutral atom success stories such as QuEra in the US.

“Neutral atoms, particularly with planqc’s full-stack approach, stand out due to their potential for scalability and fault tolerance,” he adds. “IBM has been building qubits for years but seems to have stagnated. Meanwhile, neutral atoms are now hitting the 1,000-qubit mark.”

Hauer accepts though that this is not just a race for speed and scale, it’s also a race for accuracy and stability. Fault tolerance is key and Hauer believes that neutral atoms are “the best platform for achieving error-corrected qubits.” But it’s also about supporting enabling technologies that can help firms like planqc focus on their core functionality.

Apex’s strategy, therefore, also focuses on technologies that bridge the gap between today’s noisy quantum devices and the fault-tolerant systems of tomorrow. Hauer says Apex is “interested in technologies that stabilise qubits early in the value chain,” as part of a broader focus on supporting the foundational technologies needed to accelerate quantum computing development.

Working with AI

An obvious example here is artificial intelligence (AI), and Hauer is deeply interested in how this will pan out. AI and quantum will, he believes, have a mutual relationship – but also with classical computing. Quantum is not expected to replace classical systems but instead work as a complementary technology. In this hybrid future, quantum processors (QPUs) will handle complex tasks that classical computers cannot manage, such as simulating new materials or optimising large-scale logistical problems.

In terms of AI, quantum could help optimise AI algorithms, says Hauer, making them more energy-efficient and faster. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), global datacentre electricity consumption will more than double between 2023 and 2028, thanks largely to the growing interest in AI. Any technology that can reduce AI’s need for energy will be welcomed, and Hauer believes the answer could lie within quantum.

“Quantum computing could offer more efficient algorithms for training AI models,” he suggests. “You can also use AI to improve quantum computing, particularly in designing new quantum architectures and combining physical qubits into logical ones.”

Hauer says there are opportunities here for innovation and, like many VCs, he is looking to university hubs for inspiration. Given his proximity to Munich’s Technical University and the quantum valley hub it’s no surprise that his focus is quite local, but Apex also invests across Europe, including in Spain and the UK.

Future investments to watch

So, what is Hauer excited about? What are the technologies to watch over the next few years?

“Neuromorphic computing,” he says. “How your chip design is inspired by how the human brain works.”

As IBM suggests, this is an approach to computing “that mimics the way the human brain works. It entails designing hardware and software that simulate the neural and synaptic structures and functions of the brain to process information.”

For Hauer, given the energy consumption and inefficiency of AI chips, neuromorphic computing represents an opportunity to accelerate AI without impacting the environment or escalating costs.

“For AI purposes, it’s perfect, because it’s 10,000 times more efficient than what we have today in terms of energy consumption and power and so on.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are 10 new full-stack quantum companies coming up next year”

In terms of quantum, Hauer sees a shift in the investment landscape next year. Less deals but bigger rounds, due to fewer companies being launched. 

“There are already quite a few established players on the market, already building full-stack quantum computers, and the industry is looking at them to see where they are going,” he says, adding that rival full-stack start-ups may only emerge when it becomes clearer how the existing companies (and technologies) fare in the emerging markets for quantum.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are 10 new full-stack quantum companies coming up next year, but they will be more focused on the enabling technologies and the component business,” says Hauer. “We’ve also seen a shift, with some of the current full-stack quantum companies seeing themselves more as a system integrator, so not needing to build everything up and down the chain themselves, or in the stack, but rather buying in more components. That means a component business opportunity will arise.”

For Hauer, who worked in a start-up called GlassDollar as a COO for three years, talking to researchers keen to start businesses is part of the job and one he understands from both sides, now regularly attending events to give advice. It’s part of the process, he says, and this is a lesson for any business looking to meet some of today’s toughest challenges.

Marc Ambasna-Jones / Editor-in-chief

Working as a technology journalist and writer since 1989, Marc has written for a wide range of titles on technology, business, education, politics and sustainability, with work appearing in The Guardian, The Register, New Statesman, Computer Weekly and many more.