Before quantum computing arrives, this startup wants enterprises already running on it

Eighteen months after selling his startup to chipmaker AMD for $665 million, Finnish entrepreneur Peter Sarlin has left his role as CEO of the unit now known as AMD Silo AI. He is now chairman at two new ventures: physical AI lab NestAI, and QuTwo, an AI startup aimed at helping companies prepare for the era of quantum computing

Currently fully funded by Sarlin’s family office, PostScriptum, QuTwo describes itself as “an AI lab for the quantum era.” Rather than waiting for quantum computing to mature, however, it is already working with enterprise customers — including European fashion retailer Zalando, with which it is developing what the two companies call “lifestyle agents,” AI tools designed to go beyond product search and proactively suggest products and experiences.

QuTwo is built on the premise that AI is hitting an efficiency wall that quantum computing may eventually help solve. But the company is not betting on when that will happen, Sarlin told TechCrunch. Instead, the startup is building QuTwo OS as an orchestration layer that allows companies to shift from classical to quantum computing — making use of hybrid computing along the way.

Sarlin invested in Finnish quantum companies IQM and QMill through PostScriptum, and is one of a growing number of investors who believe it will eventually outperform classical computers in a wide range of industry applications while easing AI’s energy demands. But he also thinks that initial use cases will require mixed hardware environments, and that enterprises would rather focus on their business problems while QuTwo OS takes care of the routing.

In that respect, the potential advantage of the middle ground known as “quantum-inspired” computing is that it is already viable today, because it uses classical hardware while simulating quantum behavior, working around the hurdles that still hinder quantum hardware. Meanwhile, QuTwo OS is designed to be flexible, supporting quantum or non-quantum algorithms and chips alike.

QuTwo’s team brings experience on both sides of the quantum-AI divide. On the quantum side, there’s IQM cofounder Kuan Yen Tan and board member Antti Vasara, also chair at SemiQon, a Finnish semiconductor startup focused on quantum chips. The enterprise side is equally represented, by Sarlin himself and Kaj-Mikael Björk, one of his former cofounders at Silo AI. Pekka Lundmark, the former CEO of Finnish telecom giant Nokia, also joined QuTwo’s board.

Across both areas, the team counts over 30 quantum and AI scientists, and Sarlin is clear where the company stands. “We’re building for the quantum world, but QuTwo is an AI company,” he said, meaning that QuTwo is “pushing AI workloads from classical to quantum.”

This also means that its customer base could be quite broad. Beyond Zalando, QuTwo also launched a joint quantum AI research initiative with OP Pohjola, a major Finnish financial services provider.

From the outset, QuTwo has been commercially minded and already has “large design partnerships which are in the tens of millions,” Sarlin said. Design partnerships — in which a vendor co-develops its product alongside enterprise customers — are a way for QuTwo to learn what those customers expect as it builds its product. They are also a bet from enterprises looking to establish early footing when and if quantum computing does arrive.