Arq raises $1.4 million pre-seed for quantum networking hardware
The Spanish startup is developing quantum repeaters for long-distance links between quantum computers, with Ground State Ventures leading the round.
By Dominic Okoye · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Arq, a Spanish quantum technology startup building hardware for quantum communications, has raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding led by Ground State Ventures. Big Sur Ventures also participated in the round, which will fund a new laboratory and development of the company’s next generation quantum memory devices.
The company did not disclose its valuation, revenue, customer count or headcount. The financing is early and technical, aimed at moving Arq’s quantum repeater work toward more reproducible and reliable devices rather than scaling a commercial product.
Founded in 2025 by quantum scientists Samuele Grandi and Emanuele Distante, Arq is working on quantum repeaters intended to connect quantum computers across long distances. The company’s hardware combines rare-earth doped crystal-based quantum memories with photon-pair sources, a design it says can support reliable, high-speed communication over fibre optic networks.
Building a layer for quantum internet infrastructure
Quantum repeaters are a core piece of proposed quantum internet infrastructure because quantum information is difficult to transmit over long distances without degradation. Arq’s pitch is that its approach can make quantum communication faster and more cost-effective than existing alternatives, though the company did not provide performance benchmarks, deployment timelines or pricing comparisons.
The technical focus is multiplexing, which Arq says allows multiple photons to be stored and transmitted at the same time. In the company’s telling, that improves the speed and efficiency of quantum communication and could support larger quantum networks. Those claims remain tied to development work: the new funding is being used to improve the reproducibility and reliability of its quantum memory devices.
Co-founder Emanuele Distante said Arq is working with research institutions, quantum technology companies and public organisations to push quantum communication beyond laboratory settings. He said the company’s technology could help create “quantum-exclusive networks” that allow the impact of quantum technology to scale.
Early capital for a long-horizon market
Arq is targeting telecommunications, financial services, pharmaceuticals and healthcare as possible markets for future quantum networks. The company says those networks could enable capabilities not possible with current communications infrastructure, but it has not disclosed signed commercial deployments or named customers.
The round fits a broader pattern in quantum technology financing: investors continue to place early bets on enabling infrastructure before clear near-term revenue models have emerged. For Arq, the immediate milestone is less about go-to-market expansion and more about proving that its memory and photon-source architecture can be built consistently enough to support practical networks.
Ground State Ventures’ lead role and Big Sur Ventures’ participation give Arq enough capital to build out its lab and push device development, but the company remains at the pre-seed stage in a field where timelines are measured in technical milestones. The next signal to watch is whether Arq can move from claimed advantages in speed and cost toward validated performance data and partners willing to test the hardware outside research settings.
This story draws on original reporting from Tech.eu.
