The move provides a home for Q-Cat and its portfolio companies to grow
COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, August 24, 2022 — Quantum Catalyzer (Q-Cat) — the company lowering the barriers to entry for quantum technology — recently relocated to the University of Maryland’s Discovery District, home to other successful quantum startup companies such as IonQ.
Q-Cat’s new headquarters will be at 5825 University Research Court, Suite 2200, in College Park, Maryland. The move provides over 4,000 square feet of newly renovated lab and office space for Q-Cat’s expanding operations. This concentration of commercial quantum activities in the state of Maryland and Prince George's County further fuels the area’s reputation as the “Capital of Quantum.”
Dr. Ronald Walsworth, Q-Cat founder and Director of the University of Maryland’s Quantum Technology Center, explained, “Q-Cat is growing rapidly and needs high quality facilities for further success. The new space in the Discovery District is a perfect fit to Q-Cat’s needs.”
The mission of Q-Cat is to create and grow successful quantum companies, helping high-impact technology transition out of academia and into the real world. Q-Cat provides its portfolio companies with shared personnel, expertise, and key resources, such as the state-of-the-art lab and office space in the Discovery District. This new home for Q-Cat will also allow hosting of partners and collaborative technical demonstrations, further building the local quantum ecosystem.
To date, Q-Cat has created four quantum companies spanning applications in next-generation microelectronics, specialized research and educational tools, and enabling efficient green energy generation at scale.
“We are thrilled that Q-Cat has joined other successful companies in the Discovery District. Quantum continues to be a growing strength of the University, and Q-Cat’s unique focus on commercialization of quantum technology will result in many more quantum spin-outs, solidifying the Discovery District as a national hub of quantum,” said Ken Ulman, UMD’s Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development.
The Discovery District, a 150-acre research park of the University of Maryland, offers world-class amenities and spaces for companies of all sizes. The Discovery District currently is home to more than 6,500 employees working at over 60 federal agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations.
“We are excited to bring the best ideas in quantum science to the market as useful technologies, specifically in our new home in the Discovery District,” Walsworth concluded.
Q-Cat offers resources and expertise to lower the barriers to entry for commercialization of innovative quantum technology
COLLEGE PARK, MD – May 24, 2022 – A new company in the heart of Maryland’s research corridor, Quantum Catalyzer (Q-Cat), is on a mission — to create and grow successful quantum technology start-ups.
“Today, there is no easy path to transition quantum technologies from academic labs into the real world. Q-Cat will change that by lowering the barriers to company formation and progress — catalyzing a new generation of high-impact quantum companies,” says founder Dr. Ronald Walsworth, a serial entrepreneur in quantum technology. “Our model is unique. We create early-stage quantum companies and help them grow through expert guidance and key resources.”
Walsworth, a former Harvard University faculty member recruited by the University of Maryland to lead its Quantum Technology Center, is a professor in UMD’s Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments.
With headquarters in College Park, Q-Cat joins IonQ and other companies fueling the area’s reputation as a world leader in quantum commercialization. Q-Cat investors include venture capital firms Quantonation, based in Paris and Boston, Ma, and TDF Ventures, based in Chevy Chase, Md.
Q-Cat and its companies leverage quantum technologies, exploiting the special properties of quantum physics for transformational capabilities across many sectors. Examples include enabling efficient green energy generation at scale, more reliable navigation, next-generation microelectronics, and lower cost healthcare imaging.
Q-Cat differs from traditional tech accelerators and incubators in that it creates new start-ups from scratch and then helps them grow fast and smart. Key Q-Cat resources include:
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Company conceptualization and formation
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Early-stage proof-of-principle tech development using Q-Cat’s top technical talent
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IP guidance, generation, and promotion
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Business & strategic partnership development
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Low-cost office and lab space
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Scientific equipment
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Identification of technical and business talent for growth
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Connections through Q-Cat’s well-established network
Over time, Q-Cat companies become independent entities, with Q-Cat retaining partial ownership.
“The time has never been better for a concept like Q-Cat,” says Dr. Christophe Jurczak, founder and partner at Quantonation, the pioneer VC fund dedicated to quantum technologies. “We need more companies created in this sector and more quantum entrepreneurs.”
Investments in quantum start-ups doubled from 2020 to 2021, exceeding $1.7 billion last year alone, according to research by McKinsey.
Q-Cat’s scientific advisory board (SAB) includes top quantum leaders from academia and industry, with IonQ Chief Scientist and Co-founder Chris Monroe serving as Q-Cat SAB chair.
“It’s exciting to see Q-Cat fill a critical gap in bringing innovative quantum advances to market while enhancing College Park’s reputation as the Capital of Quantum,” says Monroe, whose own company emerged from his UMD lab. In 2021, IonQ, became the first pure-play quantum computing company to go public.
Q-Cat has created four quantum companies to date, with several more in the planning stage:
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EuQlid — Quantum Imaging for Next Generation Microelectronics
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QDM.IO — Quantum Instrumentation for Research and Education
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XerXes Technologies — Quantum Sensors for Extreme Environments
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Q4ML — Quantum Data for Machine Learning
“We are excited to bring the best ideas in quantum science to the market as useful technologies. The sky's the limit,” concludes Walsworth.