The story

A quantum-specific filter. Not a generalist VC list.

Quantum founders pitch into a room where most "deep-tech" funds wrote one cheque three years ago and call it a thesis. We built this directory so you only spend time on investors who actually understand qubits, photonics, sensing or post-quantum crypto, and write follow-on cheques for it.

77quantum-active funds mapped
16countries covered
4conviction tiers, from pure-play to opportunistic
7sub-fields, from hardware to PQC
Why a quantum-specific directory

Quantum funding doesn't behave like SaaS.

Three structural realities make generalist VC lists actively misleading for quantum founders.

Time horizon

18-month round cycles, not 12.

Quantum hardware doesn't ship a beta in six months. A "dormant" fund by SaaS standards (no cheque in 12 months) can still be very much active in quantum. We use 18-month windows for liveness, same convention as The Quantum Insider and GQI.

Capex shape

Hardware-heavy, capex-front-loaded.

Cryostats, dilution refrigerators, photonic foundry runs, clean-room access. Tickets and burn profiles look more like climate-hardware or semiconductors than enterprise software, and the funds willing to underwrite that reserve differently.

LP base

Sovereign, corporate strategics, deep-tech LPs.

EU Quantum Flagship, national strategies (US, UK, FR, DE, NL, IL, CA, JP), corporate balance sheets (IBM, Honeywell, Bosch, BASF, Airbus). The cap-table mechanics, including IP carve-outs, government-backed tranches and export controls, diverge sharply from a typical SaaS Series A.

The conviction taxonomy

Not every "deep-tech" fund is a quantum investor.

Most public lists conflate them. We split investors into four conviction tiers because a pure-play quantum fund and a generalist with one opportunistic cheque don't behave the same way in a round.

Pure-play
Quantum is the thesis. Mandate, fund name, every cheque. Fastest decision windows, deepest technical diligence. Lead in 80%+ of rounds.5 funds
Deep-tech active
Multi-vertical, but writing. Quantum is one of three or four pockets. They've signed two or more quantum cheques in the last 36 months and have a partner who actually owns the space.29 funds
Strategic CVC
Corporate balance sheet. Different game. Slower, but unique value-add, pilot deployments, foundry access, supply-chain pull-through. Read the strategic intent before signing.13 funds
Opportunistic
One cheque, possibly the last. A generalist fund with one quantum portfolio name. Listed for transparency, but rarely worth six weeks of pitching unless the partner-fit is exceptional.30 funds
From the field

"We were three weeks into pitching a US deep-tech fund that hadn't actually signed a quantum cheque in two years. The directory's conviction tier flagged it instantly. We re-routed to a strategic CVC and a pure-play in Europe, both were in diligence within ten days."

Founder, photonic quantum hardware (Series A, anonymised)
What makes it different

Built for quantum founders, not analysts.

Every feature answers one question: would this fund actually fund this quantum company at this stage?

Quantum signals

Quantum cheques per year (3-year trailing), lead ratio, decision window, reserve pattern. Generalist deals (AI, biotech, climate) and follow-ons are excluded, only quantum cheques count.

Sub-field filtering

Hardware, software, sensing, photonics, communications, post-quantum crypto, enabling tech. A neutral-atom hardware founder doesn't need a list of post-quantum crypto investors.

Co-invest graph

Quantum syndicates are tight, the same dozen names show up across most rounds. If you land one lead, the graph tells you the four or five funds most likely to round out the syndicate.

Your profile, not theirs

Save a 10-second founder profile, sub-field, stage, ticket, geo, sovereign-friendly or not, and every card tells you how it matches. No account, no email required.

Who's behind this

CFO Fractal.

We're an independent firm of finance operators sitting alongside deep-tech and quantum founders. We run the financial model, the data room, the raise narrative, the parts of a CFO function that don't need to be full-time, but absolutely need someone who's read a hardware burn profile before.

We kept answering the same question across our quantum mandates: "is this investor actually a fit for our round, or just on a public list?" Each answer required the same half-day of open-tab research, fund websites, portfolio scrapes, press releases, conference panels, ecosystem trackers. So we built it once, for the whole community.

CFO Fractal · Quantum practice

Finance operators who actually read hardware burn profiles.

Long-cycle financial models for cryo, photonic and ion-trap roadmaps. Raise prep that anticipates sovereign-tranche term sheets, IP carve-outs and export-control covenants. Strategic CVC negotiation. Board narratives for mixed sovereign / private syndicates. Priced by the day or the month, never by the fundraise. If the directory gave you a shortlist and you want help turning it into a closed round, talk to us.

How we keep the lights on

Transparent, or it's not worth doing.

A directory that takes money from the funds it lists isn't a directory. It's an ad network. Quantum is too small a community to play that game, everyone would know in a month.

What we do
Keep the directory free for founders. Forever.
What we do
Monetize through CFO Fractal's advisory work, fully separate from the directory.
What we don't do
Charge funds to be listed, hide, or promoted.
What we don't do
Take affiliate commissions on closed rounds.
What we don't do
Sell founder data. We share nothing with the funds.
What we don't do
Run ads, retargeting, or ad-tech trackers.

Stop pitching the wrong VCs.

Quantum-active funds mapped, scored by conviction, sub-field and stage. Free, no account needed.

Browse the directory → See our methodology