The quantum computing race is hotting up. Microsoft has just announced the launch of its next-generation quantum chip and hopes to have a commercially viable quantum computer available by 2029. Google and IBM both say they’re working to similar timescales. Elsewhere, the Nasdaq IPO of Quantinuum last month saw the company valued at $15 billion.

The founders of Swiss start-up ZuriQ expect to play a big part in this revolution. The company, which is today announcing a $25.5 million seed funding round, has pioneered a new type of architecture for the construction of quantum computing chips. “Our approach offers greater scalability and connectivity for real-world applications,” says Pavel Hrmo, the co-founder and CEO of ZuriQ.

I first interviewed Hrmo and his colleagues in January 2025 , just after the business had raised $4.2 million of funding to build a demonstration project that would showcase its technology. A little over 18 months later, Hrmo says that project has delivered exactly the results he was hoping for; and the company has expanded quickly to capitalise on this success, with headcount increasing from four people to 15 team members today.

The critical problem ZuriQ is focused on is how to build chips containing thousands of “qubits” – the fundamental units of quantum information – so that they can function at the speed and power required. Traditionally, quantum developers have depended on an architecture in which ions are held in one-dimensional chains stitched together into larger grids. By contrast, ZuriQ has found a way to build two-dimensional structures.

“What makes this approach powerful is geometry,” says Professor Jonathan Home of ETH Zürich, a scientific adviser to ZuriQ. “Hold ions in a line and the count grows one at a time; hold them in two dimensions, and it grows with the area of the chip – on a standard chip, that is the difference between tens of ions and many thousands.”

This architecture also supports usability, Home points out. “The ions can be moved freely in three dimensions, so they can be connected together far more flexibly, and that connectivity is what ultimately makes a quantum computer more capable.”

Hrmo points out that other quantum specialists are now trying to reverse-engineer one-dimensional approaches to capture these benefits. ZuriQ has an advantage, he argues, because it focused on two-dimensional architecture from the outset. “We spent longer in the lab, and that time allowed us to identify an alternative route that is inherently easier to scale.”

The demonstration project – a three-by-three array of nine individually controlled ions, the largest two-dimensional array of its kind demonstrated to date – has attracted significant attention. ZuriQ worked closely with manufacturing partner Infineon, Germany’s largest semiconductor company, underlining the interest of established industry players in its technology.

Hrmo and his co-founds, Tobias Sägesser and Shreyans Jain, are now determined to build on this progress. Today’s fundraising will enable the company to significantly accelerate its recruitment, as well as to intensify research and development work.

The $25.5 million round is led by Quantonation, with participation from Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures and all of the investors that took part in the company’s previous raise.

Christophe Jurczak, the founding partner of Quantonation, is convinced ZuriQ has a critical role to play in the future of quantum computing. “A common misconception is that the quantum race is already decided, but that is far from reality,” he says. “ZuriQ is demonstrating that there remain significant and transformational physics breakthroughs still to be made in quantum architectures.”

Hrmo makes a similar point. “Other companies and academics have proven that quantum computers can be built, but we now have proof points for a brand-new architecture that could be the critical missing link,” he argues.