Investment in Next-generation Computing Technology
Samsung Electronics Co. offered to back Aliro Technologies, a U.S. quantum computing startup.
Samsung NEXT Ventures, the investment arm of the Korean tech giant, together with Flybridge Capital Partners and Crosslink Ventures, invested US$2.70 million (3.25 billion won) in the seed round of Aliro, according to industry sources on Oct. 2. Industry observers saw the investment as part of Samsung Electronics’ endeavor to explore new areas for growth such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and the Internet of things (IoT).
A quantum computer is an extremely powerful and new concept supercomputer capable of processing various information at the same time by using the unique physicalcharacteristic of quantum. It is considered as an alternative that can break the limit of performance of traditional computers equipped with memory chips.
Aliro develops software technologies that make quantum computing more accessible to users.
The latest investment was made by Samsung NEXT’s Q Fund, which was rolled out last year to put money behind startups working on AI. An official from Samsung NEXT said, “The Q Fund has been started with the investment in AI but it is now seeking for other areas like quantum computing. We believe quantum computing is going to fundamentally change the computing paradigm and radically impact numerous industries. With Aliro’s software, quantum computing would become more accessible to more people.”
Samsung jumped into the venture capital world in January 2017 with the launch of the US$150 million (180 billion won) Samsung NEXT fund, including the Q Fund, and has so far backed 70 companies around the world.