Generalist · VC Firm

Battery Ventures

Battery has been a long-term Quantum Machines backer since the 2018 seed and participated through the $170M Series C (February 2025), then opened a second quantum position by joining Quantum Art's $100M Series A in December 2025. Its board seat at Quantum Machines is held by Max Schireson, named investment partner with a quantum mandate in April 2026.

Active Boston, United StatesFounded 1983

Investment thesis

Battery Ventures is a global, stage-agnostic technology investor founded in 1983, now deploying its 15th flagship fund, Battery Ventures XV ($3.25B, closed February 2026), with more than $16B raised since inception across offices in the US, London and Tel Aviv.

In quantum, Battery is a patient, conviction-driven follower rather than a lead: it backed Quantum Machines at the 2018 seed (TLV Partners led) and re-upped through the Series A (2020), Series B (2021) and the $170M PSG Equity-led Series C (February 2025), holding a board seat via Max Schireson since 2021.

It opened a second quantum position in December 2025, joining Quantum Art's $100M Series A (Bedford Ridge Capital led) as a new investor in the Israeli trapped-ion full-stack company spun out of the Weizmann Institute.

In April 2026 Battery named Max Schireson, former MongoDB CEO, as an investment partner with an explicit quantum-computing and robotics mandate, signaling the firm intends to keep writing quantum checks out of Fund XV.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. They have never led a quantum round: across four Quantum Machines rounds and Quantum Art's Series A, Battery always followed a lead (TLV, Willenz/Harel, Red Dot, PSG Equity, Bedford Ridge); do not pitch them to price your round
  2. Their two quantum positions are both Israeli companies sourced through the Tel Aviv office; a quantum team with no Israel nexus starts without their strongest internal sponsor
  3. Both bets sit at the control-stack and full-stack systems layer with clear enterprise customers (Quantum Machines sells to over half of quantum-computer developers); pure science-risk plays with no commercial traction do not match their pattern
  4. The partner who did the original Quantum Machines deal, Itzik Parnafes, has left the firm; the quantum relationship now runs through Max Schireson, an operator (ex-MongoDB CEO) who reads companies through a scaling and go-to-market lens, not a physics lens
  5. As a generalist with one $3.25B fund covering AI, software, industrial tech and buyouts, quantum competes for capital against faster-returning AI deals; expect a high bar and a slow yes

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
Quantum MachinesQuantum Art

Frequent co-investors