Quantum & Photonics Startup Report, with Nardo Manaloto (LIVE)

Welcome everybody to this special Startup Ecosystem Report livestream. My name is Dustin Betts. I'm a community manager at the Founder Institute. And I'm joined here today by director of FI's new Quantum and Photonics 2022 accelerator, Nardo Manolotto. Nardo, thanks so much for joining us today.

Glad to be here, Dustin.

So we're gonna talk all about quantum and photonics tech and startup ecosystems here, but to kick off our conversation, I'd like to first ask you very briefly about yourself. You're the managing partner of Qubits Ventures, which is a VC fund specializing in early-stage quantum tech companies. Yeah, so please tell us a little bit about that before we talk about the FI industry program vertical. You know, why did you start Qubit Ventures? What's your vision or investment thesis for the firm?

Okay, yeah, thanks for that, Dustin. Qubit Ventures, the way it started really was around my passion on accelerating innovation, right? So I've been in the deep tech space and health tech space for over 25+ years. And I've been doing quite a bit of work in the area of creating innovation ecosystems, applied innovation in healthcare, did a lot of AI work. And whenever you do AI, you keep bumping, you know, into things like quantum. So 3 years ago, I started looking into the market and said, okay, hey, this is a good area to get into and say, you know, if I'm accelerating innovation, I want to make sure that there's an impact from a world and society perspective. So even my tagline for Qubits Ventures is accelerating quantum's impact because I wanna solve big issues that we have in the world, like in healthcare, in pharma, in energy, in food crisis, in climate and things like that. So quantum is definitely a good way to go doing that.

Yeah, I wanna talk about that more because for some people quantum is sort of theoretical, but I love how you just highlighted like some of the very specific applications where it's expected to make an impact. So we will talk about that, Yeah, shortly. You're also currently the CEO of the tech advising firm Catalyze, and you bring years of prior experience working with the Small Business Development Center and as a past startup founder CEO, as well as a CTO yourself. So with all of that kind of past startup and industry experience that you'll bring with you to work with the pre-seed stage deep tech founders in the FI program, what is it that excites you most, I guess, about the quantum and/or photonic space today? Or what is it that you look for in early-stage founders in this space?

Right. Since I have quite a deep history in the health tech area, that the space of health tech, pharma, biosciences, life sciences really excites me, right? So, and when I started looking at all of the different types of use cases you could apply quantum to, when I was looking at, you know, what to do with my thesis for Qubits Ventures and what area to concentrate in, What I found was, you know, the quantum is such a horizontal capability that we could use across all industries. So I created Qubits Ventures to be quantum technology, sector agnostic, and on the pre-seed level. Why the pre-seed level? Because what this area is a nascent area and things— there's a lot of things that needs to get started and an ecosystem needs to get created. You need to help a lot of the very smart people in this space, especially quantum scientists and engineers, and a lot of academic and researchers that are trying to make something happen. So I'm an experienced person in that space. I've helped a lot of startups through Catalyze. I have— I've worked with a lot of matching startups with corporates and and, uh, investors as well. I, uh, I'm also a startup entrepreneur, uh, several times, and, and I've done quite a bit of work. So I know the pain of being a startup. I know the pain of trying to launch something in there, and I know the pain and can empathize with a lot of the early-stage companies in trying to get something very innovative out there. So that's what I wanted to concentrate on.

Yeah, yeah, definitely bring a lot of that industry experience, have done it yourself. Um, let's talk more about the state of industry today, I guess. And yeah, kind of mentioned this a minute ago, especially for quantum, I think people think of it as very theoretical, but tell us more, you mentioned them in passing at the very beginning about some of these practical use cases for quantum technologies, where you're seeing developments happening today that are particularly exciting to you.

Yeah, so first of all, I wanna disambiguate a certain, terminologies, right? So when people normally hear quantum, the first thing that comes to mind is quantum computing, right? But my fund and what I do with the quantum photonics and accelerator is really I concentrate at looking at quantum technologies, right? So quantum technologies is a broader term. That means it could be anything in the application side, things like, you know, Algorithms that are doing optimization or algorithms that are doing simulation, or it could be anything in the quantum systems space. Like, you know, if there's a startup looking to develop a tool to help programming become easier for quantum engineers, I would love to look at those or any startups trying to build software that can integrate these kinds of systems between classical and quantum. I'd like to take a look at those and also, I'm very, very excited about the area of photonics. Photonics and quantum, they go hand in hand. So I, you know, I'd love to work with startups and collaborate with startups that are within the space because I think this is an exciting area that has applicability across many different industries— healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chain. So some of the use cases out there are things like, a supply chain logistics algorithm to improve their algorithm in terms of maximizing their and optimizing their scheduling, right? So, you know, we had the recent article come out with the Port of LA. They used the D-Wave quantum annealer and created an algorithm to basically solve their supply chain issues. So that is one. A really good success story. And, you know, I'm also looking at a startup who has created an algorithm in the area of improving drone navigation, right? So using quantum algorithms. So really fascinating stuff. And then the other area that I'd love to see is, you know, how do you— the transitional and hybrid technologies that would connect both classical and quantum together and make them work really well together. So those are the areas that I am pretty bullish on.

Yeah, yeah. And just because it dovetails so nicely with what you just said, though this is our first ever dedicated Quantum and Photonics Foundry Institute Vertical Accelerator program, I still wanna give a shout out to one Quantum FI portfolio company that we've been watching for a couple years and it's called Bleximo. And I believe basically they're in this space of interfacing, as you said, kind of between quantum and classical computing and building software that helps facilitate that transition. But the founder Alexei participated in the FI Silicon Valley Winter 2018 cohort. The company Bleximo has since gone on to raise Series A funding, and they have a really cool website too. It's Bleximo, B-L-E-X-I-M-O.com, and they have a really informative blog on Medium too, where you can really dive into some some great detail, I guess, in these quantum tech topics. So I do recommend people who are interested in quantum or like seeing what a quantum startup looks like, go over and check out Pleximo for one amazing FI portfolio alumni example in the quantum space. So yeah, just wanted to mention it, 'cause it was one of the use cases that you talked about. And here I'm gonna put on screen this graphic as well, so people can pause it or go back and visit the URL. This is an event that, you are hosting next week. It's a Meet the Quantum and Photonic Startup Ecosystem event. It's gonna feature Qubits Ventures, your venture firm, Entanglement Capital, Atom Computing, I believe AILA, the Quantum Computing Report. So it should be a really cool event. This is happening on Tuesday, 6:00 PM, and that's the link so people can pause and go back if you want to RSVP. Free to attend, this is an online event, but yeah, we're looking forward to officially kicking it off. This is our livestream, but This is only the first public kickoff event on Tuesday. So I just wanted to put that out there. Yeah, we also have some really exciting program partners for the 2022 Quantum Accelerator. I mentioned like a few of them are there. You have a lot of partners committed for a first day. So is there anybody that you wanna give a shout out to specifically? I mentioned a few that are joining next week's event, but. Some of the cool partners that are lined up?

Yeah, definitely. Specifically for this event right now, a few of our partners, for example, Andre Koenig, he's very well known in this space. So he has Entanglement Capital and he also formed 1Quantum, a very big ecosystem in the quantum, a very big ecosystem that he's created definitely from scratch. It's now global around the world. Another one is, you know, definitely a shout out to my friend Denise Ruffner. She is part of Atom Computing, and Atom Computing is one of those early luminaries in the quantum computing space. So I think definitely watch out for what she has to say. And then the other two speakers, shout out to Doug Fink, who is the CEO and editor for Quantum Computing Report. If you have not seen Doug Fink's website, I suggest you really visit it because He has been in this space for quite a while and he has accumulated a massive amount of information about the quantum industry. This is a website that you don't miss, quantumcomputingreport.com. Then last but not least, because I do have a passion for AI, and when I first started my thinking about quantum, it's because of AI. Todd Terrazas is the other person who'd be speaking at this. Quantum and Photonics Startup Ecosystem event. And he owns AI LA. He is the guy responsible for creating a huge AI community here in Southern California and maybe even well beyond that. And he has worked with the likes of Google and other large organizations to basically be the thought leader in the space. So AI and quantum, you will see a lot more of that. So he is part of the AI LA groups. So those are a few of the companies that I'd like to shout out on. And then one last one, the, the one on the photonics one, one of my big photonics accelerator partner is a company called Luminate. So they are based in New York, they are supporting a lot of photonic startups as well.

Yeah, yeah, super impressive lineup of partners. Most of those that you mentioned were just the ones who are going to be at Tuesday's event, but yeah, there's even more than that that people can go to. Fi.co/partners/quantum and see, I mean, you also have Data Venture Partners on there. Yeah, Evolution Photonics, I think you mentioned One Quantum, the Quantum AI Foundation, Suncoast Ventures. So yeah, just a really impressive group of collaborators and partners who are gonna be a part of this 2022 Quantum and Photonics program that we're, yeah, super excited about. Yeah, so we talked about Tuesday's event. There's also more events on the books. On June 7th, we're gonna have a Quantum and Photonics Startup Funding Event. That's happening. So people can go over and check that out at fi.co/events. And then there's going to be a pitch event June 21st. And the early application deadline for founders who are thinking about applying to the Quantum and Photonics 2022 accelerator is June 26th. So if you want to learn more, I will tell you, you can go to fi.co/quantum_americas, or you can apply at fi.co/join. Do you have any kind of final thoughts, Narda, as we're wrapping up, or any parting advice for founders who might be watching or interested in the program?

Yeah, so really, you know, whether regardless of what stage you're at, whether you're at idea stage, you're thinking about, you know, you've created the, you know, you're a solo founder and you've created and have some level of IP that you, you've created inside of an academic or research institution that you want to bring out or whether you have already formed a startup, an early-stage startup, I am definitely here to support you, right? Either on the accelerator side and the Qubits Venture side as well. And, you know, since my tagline, you know, for the fund is accelerating quantum's impact, I want to make sure that, you know, the biggest advice that I'd like to give the founders of startups is that definitely, you know, make sure that you're solving big problems and you are using your talent and your skills to basically make a meaningful impact within a very complicated and complex world that we have, right? So there are so many different things to solve in the space, and those that can solve it with really good solutions and ability to target that solution that it is really solving a problem and not just the symptom of the problem would be the ones that who will probably get success in this space. We are going to provide you with all of the mentors and the experts, not just quantum and photonics experts, but experts in startups and entrepreneurship and funding and investing. And, you know, we're going to be surrounding you with the right kind of ecosystem to ensure, you know, your success in this space. We'd love to make— we'd like to make your dream come true, making an impact. And we are here to surround you with the right kind of ecosystem.

Absolutely. Yeah. So if you want to meet that ecosystem, hop over to Tuesday's event there. Yeah, we're— there's a ton of support basically for this program. And yeah, we're at the Foundry Institute really looking forward to helping this next batch of emerging founders in quantum and photonics who are building this next generation of exciting startups. And yeah, we hope you'll join us on the journey, hop into our community and come out for one of these amazing upcoming public events that we have, the first one on Tuesday. Yeah, this has been really interesting learning from you about the latest in the quantum and photonics ecosystem and everything you and your team and partners are working on with the accelerator program launch. So Nardo Manoloto, co-director of the Founder Institute Quantum and Photonics 2022 program, thanks so much again for joining us today.

Yeah, thanks for having me here, Dustin, and I am surely looking forward, even from the audience that we have today, I hope a few of them are startups that who's going to be applying and definitely looking forward to meeting each one of you.

Awesome. Yep, take care everybody out there, and yeah, go on over and register for Tuesday, and we'll see you then.