Insider Brief
- Quantum networking startup Arq has raised a $1.4 million pre-seed funding round led by Ground State Ventures, with participation from Big Sur Ventures, to accelerate development of quantum repeater technology for the future quantum internet.
- Arq is developing a multiplexed quantum repeater based on rare-earth-doped crystal quantum memories and photon-pair sources, designed to connect quantum computers over long distances more reliably, quickly, and cost-effectively than existing approaches.
- The funding will support a new laboratory focused on advancing the reproducibility and reliability of Arq‘s quantum memory devices as the company works toward commercial networking products for sectors including telecommunications, finance, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.
PRESS RELEASE — Quantum technology startup Arq has raised a $1.4 million pre-seed round led by Ground State Ventures, joined by Big Sur Ventures, to accelerate the development of the quantum internet.
Quantum computing is advancing rapidly, promising a new age of supercomputers that can solve highly complex problems quickly and efficiently. But the impact quantum computers can make will be amplified once they can be connected across the world, creating a true ‘quantum internet’. This is a new network, operating in parallel and synergy with the traditional internet, where entanglement is used as a resource, unlocking new applications impossible on classical infrastructure.
Traditional networking equipment is not capable of connecting quantum computers, which require specialised quantum communication equipment to maintain their advantage over classical systems when networked. Arq has developed a quantum repeater that achieves connectivity reliably across long distances, faster and at lower cost than alternative approaches.
The technology relies on quantum memories, based on rare-earth doped crystals, combined with sources of pairs of photons to act as a fast and reliable interface with the fiber optic telecommunication network. Its key advantage is multiplexing — storing many photons simultaneously to enable parallel communication — the same principle that makes the classical internet fast and cost-effective. Highly-multiplexed architectures like Arq‘s will be essential to any quantum network.
Arq was founded in 2025 by Samuele Grandi and Emanuele Distante. Both experienced quantum scientists, they previously achieved breakthroughs such as the first multiplexed and telecom-compatible quantum repeater, the first transmission of light-matter entanglement over tens of kilometers of optical fibre over a metropolitan network, and a quantum gate between remote atoms in optical cavities.
Arq builds upon these achievements to target a commercial product for networking quantum computers over long distances, aiming at telecom, finance, pharma, and healthcare customers. The round will fund a state-of-the-art lab to develop Arq’s next generation of quantum memory devices, with a focus on reproducibility and reliability.
Dr. Emanuele Distante, co-founder of Arq, said:
“We are working with major research institutions, quantum companies, and public bodies to take quantum communication beyond the laboratory. Our tech could truly lay the groundwork for new quantum-exclusive networks that will allow the impact of quantum technology to scale exponentially.”
Dr. Kris Kaczmarek, partner at Ground State Ventures, said:
“Arq is a really exciting company. Quantum repeaters are a key component of the future quantum internet, but so far they have only been demonstrated in a lab setting. Arq is the first company building systems that can be deployed in the field. What’s more, the same underlying technology has been shown to support the longest lived quantum memory, offering a pathway to implement a quantum hard drive in heterogeneous quantum computing architectures.”
Ismael Almazan, partner at Big Sur Ventures, said:
“Quantum networks are transitioning from a physics experiment to infrastructure — and the window to back the enabling hardware layer is right now. ARQ sits at exactly that inflection point, delivering a quantum link from a lab demonstration into deployable infrastructure with long storage times, high efficiency, and native multi-dimensional multiplexing.”
