ZuriQ has raised $25.5 million in seed funding to scale its trapped-ion quantum processors and advance a two-dimensional architecture designed to support significantly more qubits on a single chip. The round was led by Quantonation, with participation from Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures and all investors from the company’s previous financing.
The new investment follows ZuriQ’s $4.2 million pre-seed round in 2025. The company will use the capital to expand its team, increase research and development activities, and scale chip fabrication as it works toward placing hundreds and eventually thousands of qubits on individual processors.
ZuriQ was spun out of ETH Zürich and is developing quantum computers based on trapped ions. In this approach, electrically charged atoms are held in place and controlled so they can function as quantum bits, or qubits.
Qubits are the basic units of quantum information. Unlike conventional computer bits, which represent either a zero or a one, qubits can exist in combinations of states and interact through quantum effects such as entanglement.
These properties may eventually allow quantum computers to address certain scientific, industrial and optimization problems that are difficult for conventional systems. However, building machines with enough stable and interconnected qubits remains one of the industry’s primary challenges.
Most trapped-ion systems are based on designs proposed more than two decades ago. They typically arrange ions in essentially one-dimensional chains and connect multiple chains through junctions to form larger systems.
ZuriQ is pursuing a different approach by designing its processors as native two-dimensional arrays from the beginning.
The company uses Penning micro-traps, which combine electric and magnetic fields to confine and control ions. A static magnetic field replaces the rapidly oscillating fields used in many conventional trapped-ion architectures.
According to ZuriQ, this design allows ions to move more freely across the processor without relying on the complex junction structures that can limit how systems are reconfigured.
The two-dimensional geometry is intended to improve both scale and connectivity. In a one-dimensional arrangement, increasing the length of an ion chain generally adds qubits one at a time. In a two-dimensional array, the number of available positions can grow with the surface area of the chip.
ZuriQ scientific adviser and ETH Zürich professor Jonathan Home said this difference could allow a standard processor to support thousands of ions rather than only tens.
The ability to move ions in multiple directions could also allow the system to create more flexible connections among qubits. Connectivity is important because quantum algorithms require qubits to interact, and restrictions on those interactions can increase the number of operations needed to complete a calculation.
ZuriQ has demonstrated its architecture using a working processor developed in approximately 18 months.
The demonstrator consists of a three-by-three array containing nine individually controlled ions. ZuriQ described it as the largest two-dimensional array of its kind demonstrated to date.
The system was developed in collaboration with researchers at ETH Zürich. Its underlying chips were produced with semiconductor manufacturer Infineon, demonstrating that the architecture can be fabricated through established industrial processes.
The manufacturing partnership is an important part of ZuriQ’s scaling strategy. Quantum computing systems often rely on highly specialized components that can be difficult to produce consistently at larger volumes.
Using established fabrication methods could make it easier for ZuriQ to increase chip production while improving reliability and maintaining precise control over the structures required to trap and manipulate ions.
With its initial architecture and manufacturing route established, the company is now focused on increasing the number of ions supported by each chip.
ZuriQ intends to use the new capital to expand fabrication capacity and continue resolving the engineering challenges associated with larger arrays. These challenges can include maintaining uniform control across the processor, reducing errors, managing heat and electromagnetic interference, and preserving stable qubit performance as system complexity increases.
The company has grown from four employees to 18 since its previous financing. Its team includes people with experience at quantum computing and photonics companies such as IonQ, Xanadu and Hamamatsu.
ZuriQ plans to continue hiring across engineering, physics, product development and related technical disciplines.
The company believes its native two-dimensional design could offer a more direct path to commercially useful trapped-ion systems than architectures that must be adapted from one-dimensional layouts.
CEO and co-founder Pavel Hrmo said companies that entered the trapped-ion market with one-dimensional systems may eventually need to redesign their architectures as they attempt to scale.
ZuriQ instead spent a longer period conducting laboratory research before establishing the company around a two-dimensional approach.
The company was founded by Hrmo, Tobias Sägesser and Shreyans Jain based on research conducted in Home’s laboratory at ETH Zürich.
ZuriQ ultimately aims to develop processors containing the thousands of qubits it believes will be necessary for industrially useful quantum computing.
Reaching that level will require further advances in qubit quality, error correction, control electronics, fabrication and system integration. The successful operation of a nine-ion array does not guarantee that the same architecture can be scaled to hundreds or thousands of reliable qubits.
However, ZuriQ believes its demonstrator provides evidence that the underlying geometry and manufacturing strategy can support continued development.
The latest funding will allow the company to increase the size of its research program and move its architecture toward larger experimental processors and potential commercial applications.
KEY QUOTES:
“What makes this approach powerful is geometry. Hold ions in a line and the count grows one at a time; hold them in two dimensions, and it grows with the area of the chip. On a standard chip, that is the difference between tens of ions and many thousands.”
“Just as important, the ions can be moved freely in three dimensions, so they can be connected together far more flexibly, and that connectivity is what ultimately makes a quantum computer more capable.”
Professor Jonathan Home, Scientific Adviser to ZuriQ and Professor at ETH Zürich
“A common misconception is that the quantum race is already decided, but that is far from reality. ZuriQ is demonstrating that there remain significant and transformational physics breakthroughs still to be made in quantum architectures.”
“The scientific caliber of the team is world-class, which is why ZuriQ has been phenomenally successful in attracting global talent to join them and build two-dimensional native quantum computers where trapped-ion qubits finally have the freedom to move and connect.”
Christophe Jurczak, Founding Partner at Quantonation
“The trapped-ion companies that started the race began with one-dimensional designs that were useful stepping-stones, but the real challenge is whether they can successfully pivot to two dimensions as they attempt to scale.”
“Our architecture is two-dimensional from the ground up, so the number of qubits we can place on a chip will grow far more readily than in systems built on a legacy blueprint.”
“This funding lets us turn our technical momentum into commercial scale with more people, more research, and an accelerated path to industrial applications.”
Dr. Pavel Hrmo, Co-Founder and CEO of ZuriQ
