Menu

Zapata AI: Accelerating the Quantum Revolution

Zapata provides an AI-powered application layer to help commercialize quantum computing software

Man at computer
Written by

Alumni Ventures

Published on

Read

2 min

Alumni Ventures portfolio company Zapata AI has developed a hardware and software stack that lets corporations use AI and quantum computing to address their hardest problems. Zapata tailors solutions to enterprises’ domain-specific, industrial-scale business problems to drive growth, savings, and unprecedented insight.

Unlike traditional computing solutions, quantum computers can process far more data through the use of superposition (the ability of a system to be in multiple states at the same time) and entanglement (when a particle correlates with the characteristics of the others).

Some of the many applications that are progressing from this technology include cybersecurity, drug development, battery advancement, cleaner fertilization, weather forecasting, and climate change.

Harvard and Beyond 

Leading quantum researcher Alán Aspuru-Guzik developed Zapata’s core technology during his tenure at Harvard before he formally launched the company in 2017. In addition to being one of the leading minds in quantum computing, Aspuru-Guzik also helped Zapata develop a strong team of world-leading quantum scientists and engineers.

Quantum computing has the potential to solve equations that trip up even the most powerful supercomputers, opening doors from life science to finance, automotive, logistics, and aerospace. However, this potential languishes if you don’t have the software interfaces and applications to run on a quantum computer.

Zapata offers a solution.

Zapata allows large companies to integrate high-performance AI and quantum computing capabilities from any of the leading hardware providers — including Google, IBM, Rigetti, Honeywell, Amazon, and others. Many Fortune 500 companies are now deploying Zapata to handle their most complex problems on premises or in the cloud, positioning themselves to broaden usage over time.

What We Liked About the Company

  • Home

    Cutting-Edge Technology

    Zapata’s technology employs artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantum autoencoder (a type of artificial neural network), to further optimize quantum computational power. The company’s newly launched software product, Orquestra, helps make the transition to quantum computing more seamless by offering a library of open source components for writing, manipulating, and optimizing quantum circuits.
  • Home

    Large Current and Future Market Potential

    Quantum computing is projected to have a global market value of $1 trillion by 2035. Analysts suggest that there could be between 2,000 and 5,000 quantum computers worldwide by this time, ultimately increasing the need for Zapata’s software.*
  • Home

    Established Lead Investor

    Comcast Ventures is the corporate VC arm of Comcast, focused on multi-stage investments in consumer and enterprise-focused companies. Notable exits include Peloton, Slack, Lyft, DocuSign, Accolade, and Snap.

*Consultancy.uk, “Quantum Computing Market To Reach $1 Trillion by 2035,” April 15, 2020

How We’re Involved 

The Yard Ventures (for the Harvard community) sponsored our investment in Zapata’s $30 million Series B in 2020 led by Comcast Ventures, Pitango, and Prelude Ventures, with participation from The Engine Accelerator Fund, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, and others.

Sibling funds invested in the round include Congress Avenue Ventures (for the University of Texas community) and Waterman Ventures (for the Brown community), as well as AV’s Deep Tech Fund and Total Access Fund.

In September 2023, Zapata announced it would go public via a SPAC with Andretti Acquisition Corp. at a $200 million pre-money valuation.

NOTE: Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and this fund involves substantial risk of loss, including loss of all capital invested. To see the performance of each exited investment for all Alumni Ventures funds over the last twelve months and our historical performance since 2014, click here.

Want to learn more?
View all our available funds and secure data rooms, or schedule an intro call.

New to AV?
Sign up and access exclusive venture content.

Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.

Written by

Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures is a network-powered VC firm that helps accredited individuals invest in venture capital.

LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Tagged with

Follow us

Follow us

Neither Alumni Ventures nor any of its funds are sponsored by, affiliated with, or otherwise endorsed by any university. For further details see our Legal & Privacy Policy.

Video Policy: By consuming this content I acknowledge that I may be considering an investment with AV funds for my own or my client’s account. I agree that information contained herein may not be relied upon or used for any other purpose. Offers to purchase securities are only made through formal offering documents, which describe risks (which are significant), terms, and other important information that must be considered before an investment decision is made. To see Important Disclosure Information, visit: https://av-funds.com/disclosures.

Testimonial/Endorsement Policy: Testimonials/Endorsements were provided by the participants without compensation, but each participant has a relationship with Alumni Ventures (AV) from which they benefit. All views expressed are the individual’s own and do not represent the experience of all AV fund investors or companies in which AV funds invest. Please note that testimonials are no guarantee of future performance or success. Any provider of an endorsement that is affiliated with a portfolio company Alumni Ventures has received investment funding from AV, and may in the future seek and/or receive additional funding from AV. This circumstance constitutes a conflict of interest. Providers of testimonials or endorsements were not chosen at random or according to any objective basis, but rather on the basis of their relationship with AV.

Investor Portal Update Policy: Investor portfolio data is updated once per quarter in the AV Investor Portal.

Alumni Ventures is America’s largest VC firm for individual investors based on the combination of total capital raised, number of investments, and number of investors of leading VC firms as reported by Pitchbook and other publicly available information reviewed by AV.

(1) Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for AV Funds is net of management fees and incentive allocations applied to amounts distributed to investors, and gross of incentive allocations applicable to unrealized gains on investments held by AV Funds. IRR for AV Funds includes uninvested cash, unrealized investments, and amounts distributed to investors. The IRR shown for the Russell 2000 indices are gross of fees because indices are not managed investments, and it is not possible to invest directly in an index. For additional information see av-funds.com/disclosures. All investment involves risk, including risk of loss. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. For more information on AV Funds’ investment returns, please see here.

Not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any security. Such offers are only made pursuant to the formal offering documents for the fund, that describe the risks (which are significant), terms, and other important information that must be considered before an investment decision is made.
To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit: https://av-funds.com/disclosures.

Please click here to view additional investor policies.

© 2024, Alumni Ventures. All rights reserved.