Startup Qunnect is building a global quantum 'unhackable' internet based in Brooklyn

Article by Jacob Bourne | Oct 17, 2022

The news: 12-person startup Qunnect is setting up the US’ first commercial quantum network based at Brooklyn’s historic Navy Yard with plans to scale globally.

It sold its inaugural product, a quantum memory device, for $100,000 to Brookhaven National Lab and Stony Brook University and piqued the interest of tech companies like Amazon and Verizon.
The startup recently bagged $8 million in a Series A round led by Airbus Ventures, The New York Ventures Fund, Impact Science Ventures, Motus Ventures, New York State, and Google spinoff SandboxAQ.
It previously garnered $3.3 million from the Department of Energy and at least $2 million from the Air Force and National Science Foundation.

How Qunnect’s tech works: Building quantum computers that can reliably solve practical problems is a formidable task. Building a new internet that can connect them is another hurdle, but one that could unite the burgeoning industry around a common goal.

One of Qunnect’s tech’s most crucial aspects is that it handles data in a way that renders any hacking attempts useless, with Qunnect co-founder Mehdi Namazi calling the network “unhackable.”
It also solves quantum computing’s nagging space and temperature constraints with its networking hardware able to fit into server racks of existing telecom infrastructure and able to function at room temperature as opposed to the typical absolute zero.
At the same time, its memory device can transmit quantum data with 95% fidelity—an elusive feat for the industry.

Build it and they will come: Despite repeated accusations of hype in the quantum computing industry, Qunnect’s network could become a leading example of investment dollars well spent.

With alarm bells ringing over Y2Q—the day when a quantum computer breaks the standard encryption framework on classical computers worldwide—an unhackable quantum internet could provide a safe haven.

Plus, companies are more apt to adopt technologies when it’s easy to do so. Qunnect’s small, room-temperature stable device that’s compatible with existing infrastructure will likely be attractive.

What’s next? A potential recession mightn’t bode well for deep tech innovation in general, but quantum computing will continue to be buoyed by government spending.

Both the US Innovation and Competition Act and the US CHIPS Act have earmarked considerable funds for quantum networking and computing. With a tech cold war with China simmering and Beijing taking the global lead in quantum sector investments, such funding is more likely to increase than decrease.