The concepts of quantum mechanics, which were built in the early 20th century to describe nature at the size of atoms and elementary particles, serve as the foundation for quantum technology. The Indian government included 8,000 crores of rupees in its 2020 National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications budget. As a result, the nascent research area has expanded dramatically during the past few years. 

As a result of the government's strong commitment to funding and infrastructure to assist the expansion of quantum computing, numerous private players are gaining ground in the industry. Listed below are the few startups (not in any particular order) who are leading the quantum computer race in India.

BosonQ Psi 

Founded in 2020 by Abhishek Chopra as the CEO, Rut Lineswala as CTO and Jash Minocha as CFO - the company is working to develop the world's first Quantum-powered engineering simulation software called BQPhy. The automotive, aerospace and industrial sectors might all benefit from using this software to reduce time-to-market and improve product quality. The startup got its name BosonQ Psi to pay tribute to the great Indian physicist Dr Satyendra Nath Bose, after whose name the elementary particle in quantum mechanics, Boson, was named.

The quantum-based enterprise SaaS company recently raised USD 525,000 in the pre-seed funding round. The funding round was led by 3TO1 Capital and saw participation from India and US-based angel investors.

QRDLab - Quantum Computing in India

Founded in 2020, Kolkata-based QRDLab is an industry-first initiative to promote quantum education, research and consultancy in multiple areas of quantum computing and is formed in a joint collaboration with A K Choudhury School of Information Technology, University of Calcutta. The primary aim of the startups is to promote research into various facets of quantum software. Through modelling business challenges and applying academic research, QRDLab provides a platform for collaboration with independent researchers, academic institutions, and businesses.

Qulabs

Founded in 2017, Telangana-based quantum computing startup Qulabs is one of the first in India to foray into this domain. The company's vision is to provide the world with its first Quantum Communication and Quantum Computing-based solution by creating a completely secure internet and communication at immense speed and security.

Further, the company aims to develop secure blind computing protocols which can be implemented on the existing hardware available on the quantum cloud. Additionally, the team is identifying solutions to store quantum data, designing new protocols for quantum secure direct communication, and looking for ways to apply quantum computing to AI and ML.

QpiAI

Founded by Nagendra Nagaraj, the team of QpiAI, with its headquarters in Bangalore, is trying to discover the most optimal AI systems in healthcare, life sciences, industrial, finance, and space technologies and deploy them at the earliest. 

Some of its solutions include QpiAITM PaaS, which has in-built applications for standalone AI/ML modelling applications from data preparation, AI/ML model generation from the base model, new AI/ML model discovery, fine-tuning existing AI/ML models, and deploying AI/ML model anywhere including different cloud platforms and edge platforms. Further, the firm provides solutions in the field of quantum computing, logistics and supply chain management, and AI/ML as well.

QNu Labs

Founded in 2016 by Sunil Gupta, Srinivasa Rao Aluri, Mark Mathias and Dr Anil Prabhakar - the company is building quantum cryptography products and solutions offering security for data. QNu leverages quantum technology to offer solutions such as data centre protection and multi-factor authentication, which eliminate man-in-the-middle attacks empowering enterprises to address the menace of phishing.

For a variety of industries, QNu Labs offers quantum random number generator (Tropos QRNG), quantum key distribution (Armos QKD), and Hodos (Post-Quantum Cryptography).