Investment Fund to Support Canadian Quantum Technologies

L-R: Doug Fregin, Ophelia Lazaridis, Michael Lazaridis (Quantum Valley Investments)

Quantum Valley Investments, a new venture fund in Waterloo, Ontario, plans to invest $100 million to develop and commercialize quantum computing technologies in its region. The fund, started by Blackberry co-founders Michael Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, aims to make stimulate development of Waterloo and vicinity into a Quantum Valley technology hub, similar to Silicon Valley in California.

The fund plans to invest in discoveries derived from quantum information science that Lazaridis and Fregin believe can lead to new commercializable technologies and applications. Quantum information science can solve more complex tasks through simultaneous processing than traditional 1/0 bit-based computing.

In 2012, University of Waterloo started a research center funded by the Lazaridis family that combines quantum computing and nanotechnology. He and Fregin say the technologies developed at the university will lead to transformative commercialization opportunities in the region. “Nothing you see in the classical technology world,” says Lazaridis, “can prepare you for what you will see in the quantum technology revolution.”

Candidates for investments should send a proposal no longer than two typewritten pages to the managing partners of the fund — Lazaridis and Fregin — for their consideration. A scientific advisory board will help the managing partners decide on which initiatives to support. Successful candidates will have access to the business experience and networks of the managing partners, as well as investment funding.

“Quantum physics will not only allow us to continue the development of existing ideas,” says Fregin, “but may also lead to ones which we may not have dreamed of yet.”

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