Generalist · VC Firm

NEA (New Enterprise Associates)

NEA wrote IonQ's first institutional check (~$2M, 2015-2016) to spin the Duke/UMD trapped-ion work into a company, then co-led the $20M Series B with GV (2017) and followed on through the Series C and the 2021 SPAC PIPE. It has since sold down: below 5% of IonQ since May 2023, with no board seat on the public company and no other disclosed quantum position. A landmark early backer, not an active quantum investor today.

Active Menlo Park, United StatesFounded 1977

Investment thesis

$28B+ AUM generalist platform (June 2025) spanning dedicated early-stage and venture growth funds; 284 portfolio IPOs and 500+ M&A since 1977.

Dual technology and healthcare practice run by Co-CEOs Tony Florence and Mohamad Makhzoumi since 2024, with Scott Sandell as Executive Chairman and CIO.

Quantum track record is one company done early and well: NEA created IonQ with the founders in 2015-2016 and co-led its Series B, riding it to the first pure-play quantum IPO.

That chapter is closed: NEA exited below 5% of IonQ in 2023 and has not made a new quantum bet since; frontier-tech attention now flows to AI, defense, and space (CHAOS, CuspAI, Cowboy Space, Sakana AI).

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. Already exited: NEA sold down IonQ from May 2022 and dropped below 5% in May 2023; pitching them as a quantum investor means pitching a fund that has already taken its quantum win off the table
  2. One-and-done pattern: a decade of quantum exposure produced exactly one company, sourced through a personal Duke/UMD relationship; there is no repeatable quantum sourcing motion
  3. No quantum champion at the table: Andrew Schoen never sat on the public IonQ board, and his current frontier-tech boards are AI (CuspAI, Sakana AI), defense, and space, not quantum
  4. Generalist megafund math: at $28B+ AUM, a $5-10M quantum seed moves nothing; expect interest only at venture-growth scale with commercial proof
  5. The 2018 'time to put chips on the table' quantum blog has had no sequel; the firm's public voice on quantum went silent after the IonQ IPO

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
IonQ

Frequent co-investors

  • GV
  • Samsung Catalyst Fund
  • Mubadala
  • Amazon
  • Airbus Ventures
  • Fidelity
  • Silver Lake
  • Breakthrough Energy Ventures
  • Hyundai