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I am aware of the quantum hardware startup Rigetti and I wonder if there are any quantum startups that build software on top of current quantum computer hardware for commercial applications?

Related question: Does a complete list of open quantum software projects exist?

Sanchayan Dutta
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QNerd
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3 Answers3

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There are lots of startups, many of which have no hardware efforts. Here is a selection, distinguished only by the fact that I have heard of them at least once.

There are also QISKit and ProjectQ. Though not startups, they also deserve a mention as important quantum software projects.

Sanchayan Dutta
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James Wootton
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    Thank you for mentioning us, James Wootton. It occurs to me that there could be a wiki where people can enter sightings of startups. I see that Quantiki already has something like that but their list is still very incomplete https://www.quantiki.org/wiki/private-sector-quantum-information-science

    There is also this list worthy of much praise, but it is not a wiki open to changes by anyone like Quantiki or Wikipedia are https://quantumcomputingreport.com/players/privatestartup/

     – rrtucci May 02 '18 at 15:03
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Rigetti is not just a hardware company. It also builds quite a bit of software -- check out

  • Forest, which gives access to both a simulator and a quantum computer via the cloud
  • PyQuil, a Python library for programming quantum computers
  • Grove, a Python library of quantum algorithmic primitives
  • Forest OpenFermion, a library to interface OpenFermion with Forest
  • Many more projects on Github

NOTE: I work at Rigetti

Marcus Silva
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Apart from the ones James Wotton mentioned, recently IBM collaborated with a few top quantum computing software startups:

  • Zapata Computing – Based in Cambridge, MA, Zapata Computing is a quantum software, applications and services company developing algorithms for chemistry, machine learning, security, and error correction.

  • Strangeworks (our site's sponsor!) – Based in Austin, TX and founded by William Hurley, Strangeworks is a quantum computing software company designing and delivering tools for software developers and systems management for IT Administrators and CIOs.

  • QC Ware – Based in Palo Alto, CA, QC Ware develops hardware-agnostic enterprise software solutions running on quantum computers. QC Ware’s investors include Airbus Ventures, DE Shaw Ventures and Alchemist, and it has relationships with NASA and other government agencies. QC Ware won a NSF grant, and its customers include Fortune 500 industrial and technology companies.

  • 1QBit – Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, 1QBit builds quantum and quantum-inspired software designed to solve the world’s most demanding computational challenges. The company’s hardware-agnostic platforms and services are designed to enable the development of applications which scale alongside the advances in both classical and quantum computers. 1QBit is backed by Fujitsu Limited, CME Ventures, Accenture, Allianz and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Apart from these, the list also includes Cambridge Quantum Computing, QxBranch and Quantum Benchmark. But James already mentioned them! :-)

As of now, it seems USA is leading in the number of quantum computing startups. I'd like to hear from others about startups in this area, in the other countries, too. And well, congratulations to Strangeworks! They have been doing great.

Sanchayan Dutta
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