Insider Brief
- Qunova Computing raised $10 million in Series A funding to accelerate development of its quantum software applications for chemical, pharmaceutical, and industrial engineering sectors.
- The company’s flagship algorithm, HI-VQE, has shown consistent performance across multiple quantum hardware platforms, including IBM, and was recently added to IBM’s Qiskit functions catalog.
- Qunova is expanding its team and product portfolio, introducing new algorithms capable of handling large-scale combinatorial optimization, with further updates expected in the second half of 2025.
PRESS RELEASE — – Qunova Computing, a developer of software applications designed with the goal of bringing quantum advantage to the chemical, pharmaceutical and industrial engineering sectors, today announces it has raised Series A funding in the amount of $10 million USD (13.5 billion Korean Won). Investors participating in the round include GS Ventures, Korea Development Bank, GU Equity Partners, Company K, Quantum Ventures Korea, JB Investment, CKD Venture Capital and Daesung Venture Capital.
This funding reflects strong investor confidence in Qunova’s flagship product, its quantum algorithm known as ‘HI-VQE’ (Handover Iteration Variational Quantum Eigensolver). The algorithm has demonstrated promising results using a range of quantum computing modalities, which positions the company well to deliver practical quantum advantage in the near-term. Chemistry, drug discovery and materials science are among the industries where Qunova’s algorithm is delivering added value today.
“Qunova now moves into the next phase of its evolution. With the backing of these strategic investors, we will deploy additional capital for the expansion of our world-class team of developers, scientists and engineers. This will help make our path to quantum advantage even shorter” said Kevin June-Koo Rhee, the company’s CEO and Founder. “We would like to thank these investors for their confidence. We also thank our hardware partners, which have supported Qunova’s development by providing access to their quantum computers. Without them, we would be unable to demonstrate the capabilities of our product and continue our progression towards quantum advantage.”
Qunova’s HI-VQE algorithm is hardware agnostic, having been tested on multiple quantum computers including those developed by IBM and several others. The results have been consistent and promising across all platforms. In fact, earlier this year IBM added the HI-VQE algorithm to its Qiskit functions catalog, making it accessible to their vast pool of end users, including Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, government labs and startups.
“Qunova is the only company bringing a chemistry focussed quantum applications to market. We believe the impact of this will be significant and wide ranging, affecting everything from materials design to drug discovery. The immense potential of their products is one of many reasons we have given them our backing,” said Dr. Kang Woon Lee, Partner at GU Equity Partners.
“The progress Qunova has shown of late has been quite impressive. Unlocking the true potential of quantum computing will require further enhancements on the hardware side. However, the innovative approach Qunova has taken with this algorithm helps to address this issue by circumventing some of the challenges on the hardware side. Thus, bringing quantum advantage closer than ever before” added Sukhyun Hong, CEO at GS Ventures. “The GS Group is looking forward to identifying value added applications for this technology and deploying them across multiple lines of our business.”
The HI-VQE algorithm has demonstrated strong performance across various quantum computing systems, achieving the computational precision needed for sophisticated quantum chemistry applications. Its effectiveness stems from a Hybrid Quantum-Classical (HQC) computing design that capitalizes on the advantages of both approaches to reduce resource demands while substantially improving both processing speed and calculation accuracy.
Over the past year alone, the company has demonstrated the best-in-class capabilities with HI-VQE using multiple quantum modalities with qubit counts ranging as high as 68. The company is also introducing a new algorithm designed to handle up to 100,000 combinatorial variable optimization solutions on today’s NISQ computers. Both have significant applications for multiple industries where highly complex calculations are commonplace.
More news regarding Qunova’s progress towards quantum advantage will be available in the second half of 2025.
