Quantum Computing

Danish Quantum Technology Firm, Sparrow Quantum, Lands Record Seed Funding


Insider Summary

  • Sparrow Quantum Aps. secured DKK 31 million ($4.9 million) in seed funding, the largest investment to date in a Danish quantum technology company.
  • 2xN led the round, which also included co-investment from LIFTT and the European Innovation Council (EIC).
  • Sparrow Quantum aims to become a market leader in the light-matter interface for quantum technologies by bringing basic quantum photonic components to market.

PRESS RELEASE — Sparrow Quantum Aps., a Denmark-based quantum technology company, announced today that it has secured 31 million DKK ($4.9 million) in seed funding, the largest investment to date in a Danish quantum technology company. The funding round was led by a venture capital firm 2xN and includes the co-investment of LIFTT And European Innovation Council (EIC). This financing is a testament to investors’ confidence in the promise of quantum photonics technology as well as Sparrow Quantum’s world-leading expertise in basic quantum photonic devices.

Sparrow Quantum aims to become a market leader in the light-matter interface for quantum technologies by bringing basic quantum photonic components to market. The deterministic light-matter interface has wide applications in quantum technology; they are the foundational hardware that enables fully secure quantum communications, the quantum internet to connect the world with quantum entanglement, or the scalable quantum computer based on photons. Sparrow Quantum’s first product is a single photon source on a chip with unrivaled specifications; it provides long strings of more than 100 single photons without loss of quality and at speeds of more than 20 million single photons per second in fiber that customers can use directly for, for example, multi-photon quantum simulations or quantum key distribution experiments.

Boasting record-breaking efficiency and indistinguishable photons, the Sparrow Quantum single-photon source is expected to promote new avenues for research and allow photonic quantum technology researchers to conduct their experiments more efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition, Sparrow Quantum plans to become a trusted component provider in the supply chain of the quantum industry by working with quantum technology system developers to incorporate their single photon sources into large-scale commercial quantum systems.

Sparrow Quantum technology results from more than two decades of pioneering research by founder Prof. Peter Lodahl and his quantum photonics research group at the prestigious Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Peter was the first to show that light emission could be fully controlled using complex photonic nanostructures. Peter currently heads the Hy-Q Center of Excellence Hybrid Quantum Networks, which develops fundamentally new quantum hardware for the emerging field of quantum information science, such as deterministic single photon sources, spin-photon interfaces, and photonic quantum gates.

Head of the NBI Department, Prof. Jan Thomsen, commented, “We are excited to see the commercial potential of our research at NBI being realized through Sparrow Quantum’s breakthrough technology. Their development of a deterministic single photon source is a significant step forward in advancing quantum technology, and we are proud to support their efforts to bring this technology to market.”

Speed ​​up product development and expand the team

With this initial investment, Sparrow Quantum will accelerate its product and service development, expand its team, and strengthen its position as a market leader in quantum light matter interfaces and the next generation of single photon sources for commercial quantum technologies.

“Support from our investors is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and the potential of our technology,” said Prof. Peter Lodahl, Sparrow Quantum Founder and CSO. “Thanks to this investment, we can continue to develop our single photon sources and accelerate market entry. In addition, we can start executing our roadmap on how to make our underlying technology the preferred approach in advanced quantum system applications in quantum communications and quantum computing.”

“We are pleased to be getting this investment from 2xN, LIFTT and EIC,” said Kurt Stokbro, CEO of Sparrow Quantum. “This funding will enable us to advance our development of light-matter interfaces for commercial quantum technologies and bring next-generation products to market more quickly. We firmly believe that photonic quantum technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we process and communicate information in the future, and we are excited to provide the custom components that will propel this field forward.”

“We are very impressed with Sparrow Quantum technology and the team’s vision for the future of photonic quantum technology,” said Niels Nielsen, co-founder of 2xN. “We believe in supporting world class teams, and Sparrow Quantum is one of them, and has the potential to become a market leader in this space, and we are excited to support them on this journey.”

“LIFTT is excited to invest in Sparrow Quantum and support their innovative technology in the field of quantum photonics,” commented LIFTT CEO, Giovanni Tesoriere. “Their dedication to developing high-quality, deterministic single-photon sources and matter-light interfaces has the potential to transform a wide range of industries, from quantum computing to secure communications. We look forward to seeing the impact their work will have on the future of technology.”

Hermann Hauser, EIC Fund Board member, said: “The EIC Fund aims to support European innovators in enhancing their journey, and Sparrow Quantum is a great example of how the European Union is helping top innovators. The EIC Fund’s ambitious commitment, along with that of other investors, is an important step towards driving their development.”



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