Beyond the Qubit

Before a quantum scale-up raises its next €50 million, one question matters: what exactly needs to become true with that money?

In Part 1 of my Beyond the Qubit conversation with Yvonne Greeuw from Invest-NL, we discuss how investors evaluate deep-tech companies beyond the technology itself. Yvonne explains how they think about investment theses, key milestones, commercial validation, and the progress a company needs to make before its next financing round.

One idea stood out: do not blindly optimize for KPIs. A company can hit its targets and still be working on the wrong things. For quantum computing startups, the critical milestone might be proving manufacturability, securing a reference customer, or showing that a technology can solve a meaningful problem for end users.

We also explore the Dutch quantum ecosystem, different quantum computing modalities, the transition from research to commercial products, and what investors look for as companies mature. For founders and investors, the challenge is not simply to measure progress. It is to identify which achievements will materially strengthen the investment case.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
How Invest-NL evaluates deep-tech investment opportunities

Why a strong investment thesis starts with identifying the real bottleneck

What value inflection points mean for a company's next funding round

Why founders should not optimize blindly for KPIs

How quantum startups can move from technical progress to commercial validation

Why qubit counts alone do not tell the full story

How different quantum computing modalities affect investment decisions

What changes when a startup moves from early-stage funding toward Series A and Series B

Why investor conversations should focus on the risks that need to be removed

How to think about the next €50 million as a set of milestones, not just more runway

Chapters
00:00 - Meet Yvonne Greeuw from Invest-NL
02:00 - What Invest-NL does and how it evaluates companies
04:00 - Building an investment thesis around the real bottleneck
06:00 - Evaluating technology and the opportunity it creates
08:00 - Testing assumptions and validating the investment case
10:00 - The role of people, communication, and alignment
14:00 - Keeping founders and stakeholders aligned as things change
16:00 - When a company's original investment thesis needs to change
18:00 - Strengthening the investment thesis with evidence
20:00 - Invest-NL and the Dutch quantum ecosystem
24:00 - Building the quantum ecosystem around startups
26:00 - Evaluating different quantum computing modalities
29:00 - Learning from experts and market analysis
31:00 - Moving from research progress toward end-user relevance
34:00 - What changes as a company approaches Series B
36:00 - Technical challenges and the path toward useful quantum systems
38:00 - Quantum hardware, infrastructure, and scaling challenges
41:00 - What creates a durable competitive advantage
44:00 - Common mistakes founders make when speaking to investors
46:00 - Pitching as a commercial strategy
48:00 - Why rejection does not always mean the company is wrong
50:00 - Defining milestones across technology, commercial progress, and team
51:00 - Why founders should not blindly optimize for KPIs
52:00 - Preparing a company for institutional investment

If you work in quantum computing, deep tech, or venture capital, share this episode with someone thinking about how to turn technical progress into a stronger investment case.

Subscribe to Beyond the Qubit for more conversations about the technologies, companies, and investment decisions shaping the quantum industry.

Disclaimer: This post is shared on a personal basis. I do not represent any company. This is not investment advice.

What could make a cryo-CMOS company difficult to replace, even if a competitor develops a technically better chip?

In Part 2 of my Beyond the Qubit conversation with Eric W. Cao, Co-Founder and CEO of Qifrost, we explore what could separate the winners in the growing cryo-CMOS market. Beyond intellectual property and chip performance, the discussion turns to execution, hard-to-find engineering talent, customer qualification, and the challenge of getting cryogenic control technology out of the lab and into real quantum systems.

We also discuss why the next 24 months could be important for identifying the leaders in cryogenic control electronics, how different quantum computing architectures shape demand, and what commercial progress might look like. For investors, the key question is whether a company can turn technical expertise into a solution that customers can deploy, trust, and keep using.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why cryo-CMOS could become essential to scaling quantum computers

What may differentiate Qifrost from foundries, instrument companies, and other competitors

Why cryo-CMOS engineering talent is so difficult to find

Why laboratory results are not enough to prove a commercial solution

How quantum computing architectures influence cryogenic control requirements

Why the next 24 months could reveal early market leaders

The role of 4K electronics, multiplexing, packaging, and reducing fridge cabling

Why engineering contracts, design agreements, and commercial milestones matter

What investors should look for when evaluating progress in quantum hardware infrastructure

Chapters
00:00 - Why Qifrost could win in cryo-CMOS
02:00 - The shortage of cryo-CMOS engineering talent
04:00 - What separates Qifrost from potential competitors
08:00 - Why lab validation is not enough
10:00 - Different technologies and the cryo-CMOS opportunity
12:00 - Which quantum computing architectures need cryo-CMOS
14:00 - Why market leaders could emerge in the next 24 months
16:00 - Multiplexing and scaling quantum control
18:00 - Platform agnostic technology and quantum modalities
20:00 - Quantum benchmarking and industry validation
22:00 - What the 4K control layer can do
24:00 - Hybrid bonding, packaging, and integration
25:00 - Why engineering contracts matter to investors
27:00 - What it takes to become a market leader
32:00 - Commercial milestones and proving progress
34:00 - Reducing cabling without sacrificing qubit fidelity

If you follow quantum computing, cryo-CMOS, or deep-tech investing, share this episode with someone who would find it useful. Subscribe to Beyond the Qubit for more conversations about the companies, technologies, and business models shaping the quantum industry.

Disclaimer: This post is shared on a personal basis. I do not represent any company. This is not investment advice.

The cryo-CMOS market may still look early. But the leaders may already be starting to emerge.

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from my Beyond the Qubit interview with Eric W. Cao, Co-Founder and CEO of Qifrost. Eric believes the scaling bottleneck that cryo-CMOS aims to solve could become critical around 2030, give or take a couple of years. But companies cannot wait until then to prepare. The next 24 months could be when the leaders begin to separate themselves from the rest of the market.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand where value may emerge in the quantum hardware supply chain. Cryo-CMOS aims to address the scaling challenges of controlling quantum processors at cryogenic temperatures. But laboratory validation is only the first step. The next challenge is proving that the technology works inside commercial quantum processing units, alongside real architectures and roadmaps.

That is what makes Qifrost interesting. The progression is clear: laboratory validation, commercial validation, standardization, and eventually mass manufacturing. The race may not be won by the company with the most impressive laboratory demonstration, but by the one that integrates its technology with commercial quantum hardware first.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why cryo-CMOS could become a critical quantum scaling technology

Why the next 24 months may help determine the market leaders

How cryogenic control electronics could reduce wiring complexity

Why laboratory validation is no longer enough

How commercial validation differs from proving technology in the lab

Why co-development with quantum processor companies matters

How standardization and mass manufacturing fit into the roadmap

What investors should watch as Qifrost moves toward commercial adoption

Chapters
00:00 Why Qifrost matters for quantum investors
01:00 Why existing quantum control infrastructure will not scale
02:30 Why the next 24 months matter for cryo-CMOS
04:30 From laboratory validation to commercial validation
11:00 The physical scaling bottleneck in quantum hardware
36:30 Why cryo-CMOS is a strategic opportunity
43:00 Why commercial execution matters more than the technology alone
65:30 Building relationships with quantum hardware developers
72:30 What it takes to prove cryo-CMOS commercially

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

The most important scaling unit in quantum may not be the qubit.

It may be the tile.

In this episode, I continue my conversation with James, CEO of Quantum Motion, to explore why the company’s tile architecture could change how investors think about quantum scaling. Most quantum discussions start with qubit count. But the semiconductor industry taught us a different lesson: scaling happens when you prove the repeating building block and then replicate it.

That is the idea behind Quantum Motion’s tile architecture.

A tile is not just a place where qubits sit. It is designed as a functional unit containing the key ingredients needed for a scalable architecture: shuttling, readout, single-qubit operations, and interfaces for interactions between neighbouring tiles.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand why manufacturability may matter more than impressive qubit numbers. The question is not only whether Quantum Motion can make more qubits. It is whether they can prove a manufacturable tile that can be repeated at scale.

Because if the tile works, the scaling problem changes.

It moves from invention risk toward replication risk.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why the tile may be more important than raw qubit count

How semiconductor scaling principles apply to quantum computing

Why a repeatable building block changes the scaling challenge

What Quantum Motion’s tile architecture contains

Why manufacturing yield and control are critical

How shuttling and readout fit into the architecture

Why the TV pixel analogy helps explain quantum scaling

What investors should watch beyond qubit numbers

Chapters
00:00 Why qubit count may not be the right metric
00:41 Manufacturing yield as a key KPI
02:37 Why control is the real bottleneck
05:26 The quantum tile architecture explained
17:12 The TV pixel analogy for quantum scaling
27:32 Shuttling, readout and the functional tile
31:00 Why replication could change the scaling equation

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

The real spin-qubit question is not:
Can you make one?

It is:
Can you control millions?

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from my Beyond the Qubit interview with James, CEO of Quantum Motion. Spin qubits have one of the most interesting scaling stories in quantum because they build on something the semiconductor industry already understands: CMOS manufacturing.

But CMOS does not make quantum easy.

It changes where the hard problem sits.

Instead of removing complexity, spin qubits move the challenge toward control, tuning, automation, and manufacturing. A single electron spin can hold quantum information, but scaling that into a useful quantum computer means controlling millions of slightly different qubits with high precision.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand why semiconductor-style manufacturing could matter in quantum. Quantum Motion’s approach is built around making qubits fit the factory from day one. The question is not only whether spin qubits work. It is whether they can become manufactured systems.

Density creates the opportunity.

Control determines whether it becomes a computer.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why spin qubits are attractive from a semiconductor perspective

How CMOS manufacturing changes the quantum scaling challenge

Why millions of qubits create a control problem

Why manufacturing discipline matters for quantum computers

How automation and scalable readout become critical

Why Quantum Motion started with a 300mm CMOS approach

Why density alone does not create a useful quantum computer

What investors should watch in spin-qubit platforms

Chapters
00:00 Why Quantum Motion and spin qubits matter
01:12 Why CMOS is the foundation of the strategy
03:18 Why semiconductor manufacturing creates an advantage
05:10 The challenge of manufacturing quantum devices
11:12 Why controlling millions of qubits is the real problem
12:17 Why scalable readout matters
17:34 Why yield and automation determine success
27:34 Why 300mm CMOS matters for quantum scaling
31:28 From individual qubits to scalable systems

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.