Cosmic rays, XR and “multiverse” quantum computing – welcome to the EIC’s Deeptech Scaling Membership

“Do you believe in the multiverse?” Our petite and cheerful guide, Angelina, asked me as I told her what I do for a living while navigating the lively streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

It wasn't a conversation I expected to have on a vegan street food tour in Vietnam, but since Angelina is studying AI and VR (and we're both avid Marvel fans), our conversation went down a dimensional rabbit hole.

I wonder what questions she would have for the founders of Multiverse Computing – a Spanish deeptech scaleup. It offers what it calls value-based quantum computing solutions (as opposed to scientifically interesting but not immediately commercially valuable applications, as one might think). The company has just been selected as one of 48 companies that make up the is the first cohort of the Scaling Club of the European Innovation Council.

Multiverse computing falls into the category of “next-gen computing” and develops quantum and “quantum-inspired” algorithms to leverage a combination of current-era Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices and classical computers. So in a sense it connects two areas.

Multiverse's software platform, Singularity, connects to quantum computers in the cloud but has a user-friendly front end. The company says this makes quantum computing “really easy” for users who have no prior knowledge.

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Enrique Lizaso Olmos, CEO and co-founder of Multiverse Computing, said that inclusion in the EIC scaling program is “a wonderful recognition of our achievements to date and the importance of quantum computing for Europe and the rest of the world.”

The company, which has 40% of its 100 employees with doctorates and 95 patents, also developed CompactifAI. It is said to be an LLM compressor Makes AI systems “more efficient and portable,” reducing both size and retraining and inference costs.

Quantum, cosmic rays and augmented reality

Multiverse Computing in the EIC Scaling Club's Next-Gen Computing category includes photonics startup QuiX Quantum, 3D cosmic-ray imaging company Gscan and waveguide developer Dispelix Combiners used as displays for XR (Extended Reality) devices.

The other categories are:

Digital security and trust – including federated learning Platform Sherpa.ai, fraud prevention startup Threatmark and cyber intelligence company Quointellience.

Renewable energy – including rigid sail technology company bound4blue, wind turbine manufacturer Modvion and wave energy systems provider CorPower Ocean.

Intelligent mobility – including the tele-driving software startup Vey, the logistics optimization platform Transmetrics and the “world’s first cargo drone airline” Dronamics.

It’s high time to build deep tech “champions.”

The EIC (which has a total budget of 10 billion euros) will offer support to the selected companies with fUndraising, leadership mentoring, identifying and arranging corporate partnerships, media presence, recruiting and more. The goal of the program is to build up to 120 deeptech “champions.”

“Time is of the essence when it comes to building industry leaders in the deep tech sector, and our goal is to accelerate our corporate members on their scale-up journey,” said William Stevens, co-founder and group managing director of Tech Tour and coordinator of the EIC Scaling Club said.

A full list of companies selected for the program can be found here Here. However, none of them seem focused on exploring the multiverse proper, so I'll have to disappoint Angelina the next time we meet.