Private Investment in Quantum Reached $450 Million in 2017 and 2018

According to a Nature analysis, private funding of quantum startups in 2017–2018 more than quadrupled from the two years prior. Companies looking to leverage quantum mechanics for mind-boggling levels of computation pulled in at least $450 million in 2017 and 2018.

That registers higher than flirtation, but compared to investors' more mature love—AI startups—quantum is still a crush. Over the last 10 years, VCs have invested tens of billions into AI startups, which have flourished with breakthroughs in deep learning in the early 2010s.

What does quantum need for a similar takeoff?

Investors believe in the commercial possibilities of quantum, a sector that's notched R&D advances and released early-stage commercial products. But quantum is largely unproven and there aren't too many useful, real-world applications yet. The breakthroughs will come when quantum computers start solving problems that today's supercomputers can't (aka quantum advantage).

If quantum upstarts can't commercialize their technology fast enough or bigger firms beat them to the chase, private investment won’t continue to scale like it has with AI.