ZuriQ raises €22.4M Seed to scale its natively 2D trapped-ion quantum processor

ZuriQ (Zürich) has raised $25.5 million / €22.4 million in a Seed round led by Quantonation, with participation from Forward.one, Extantia, and Firgun Ventures, alongside all previous pre-seed investors. The company — spun out of the ETH Zürich laboratory of Professor Jonathan Home — has grown from four to 18 people since a 2025 pre-seed, and was co-founded by Dr. Pavel Hrmo (CEO), Dr. Tobias Sägesser, and Dr. Shreyans Jain.

The 2D architecture

Conventional trapped-ion quantum computers arrange ions in a linear chain: one qubit follows another in a single file, and interactions between non-adjacent qubits require the chain to physically rearrange. Scaling this architecture means extending the line — which introduces timing, error, and engineering constraints that compound quickly. IBM and IonQ's respective superconducting and linear trapped-ion approaches share a common characteristic: qubit count grows linearly, bounded by the physics of one-dimensional ion chains.

ZuriQ's starting premise is that the line is the problem. Its processors use Penning micro-traps combined with a static magnetic field to hold ions in a two-dimensional plane — a 3×3 nine-ion array in the current demonstrator — where ions can move freely without junction constraints. In this architecture, qubit count scales with chip area rather than chain length, which the company claims creates a fundamentally cleaner path to hundreds and ultimately thousands of qubits on a single chip. Manufacturing is in partnership with Infineon, giving the architecture an industrial fabrication channel from the earliest stage.

From demonstrator to industrial scale

The Seed capital funds three parallel tracks. The team expands beyond 18 people to cover the engineering, physics, and commercial functions needed to operate at higher qubit densities. The R&D programme scales to test fidelity at progressively larger 2D arrays. And the Infineon manufacturing partnership accelerates the chip fabrication cycle — moving faster from lab design to physical silicon.

"The quantum race is far from decided," said Christophe Jurczak, Founding Partner at Quantonation. "ZuriQ is demonstrating that there remain significant and transformational physics breakthroughs still to be made in quantum architectures. The scientific calibre of the team is world-class, which is why ZuriQ has been phenomenally successful in attracting global talent to build 2D-native quantum computers where trapped-ion qubits finally have the freedom to move and connect."

The company has been deliberate about timing: "We spent longer in the lab," said Hrmo, "and that time allowed us to identify an alternative route that is inherently easier to scale." The pre-seed phase produced the working demonstrator; the Seed phase is expected to produce evidence that the 2D approach holds at the qubit counts that matter for practical quantum advantage.

Target applications — drug discovery, logistics optimisation, material simulation, financial modelling — are standard for quantum hardware companies at this stage. What is less standard is the combination: an ETH Zürich provenance, a 2D-native architecture, an Infineon manufacturing partner, and a Quantonation lead, all at the Seed round.