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QV Studio

QV Studio is the first Canadian venture studio dedicated exclusively to quantum technologies, launched in June 2023 in Sherbrooke's DistriQ, Quantum Innovation Zone. Led by Executive Director Dr.

Stage Pre-Seed → Seed
Ticket $150k - $200k
Quantum focus Quantum Computing HW, Quantum Computing SW
Geography Canada

Investment thesis

QV Studio is the first Canadian venture studio dedicated exclusively to quantum technologies, launched in June 2023 in Sherbrooke's DistriQ, Quantum Innovation Zone. Led by Executive Director Dr. Sarah Jenna, it builds companies from scratch by pairing university-grade science (notably from Institut quantique at Université de Sherbrooke) with elite entrepreneurs and structured commercialisation work. Pre-seed capital is co-deployed alongside specialist funds Quantacet (Montreal) and Quantonation (Paris), and the studio co-founds, de-risks, and then spins out companies as independent operating entities. QV Studio is housed in Espace Quantique 1, a 50,000+ sq. ft. DistriQ facility offering labs, offices, and cryogenic infrastructure. Its evergreen, in-house construction model makes it a structurally different vehicle from cohort-based accelerators and positions Quebec as a globally competitive quantum company-building hub.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. No non-Canadian university spin-outs: QV Studio is the only venture program in Canada dedicated to and optimized for turning quantum spin-offs from Canadian universities, US, European or corporate spin-offs are not its mandate
  2. No already-incorporated, funded companies: the studio model targets pre-company founders (graduate students, postdocs, researchers) at the spin-out moment, not startups that have already raised
  3. No non-academic founders: eligible founders are graduate students, postdocs and researchers in quantum science, excluding repeat entrepreneurs or industry operators without a university research base
  4. No non-quantum deep tech: backed by Quantonation and Quantacet and funded by Quebec's Ministry of Economy specifically for quantum, the program does not accept adjacent photonics, AI or semiconductor plays without a quantum thesis
  5. No founders unwilling to anchor in Quebec's ecosystem: the studio is headquartered in Sherbrooke and partnered with Prompt (Quebec) and DistriQ, teams refusing local presence are unlikely to be accepted

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio →
QuminexSilQ Connect

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