Generalist · Corporate VC

Samsung Next

Samsung Electronics' early-stage venture arm with a three-position quantum software book (Aliro, Classiq, Quantum Machines), always as follower, most recently in Classiq's $110M Series C (May 2025).

Active Mountain View, United StatesFounded 2013

Investment thesis

Samsung Electronics' early-stage venture arm, founded in 2013 as the Global Innovation Center and relaunched at CES 2017 with the $150M Samsung Next Fund; evergreen balance-sheet deployment since.

Quantum entered through its 2018 Q Fund, which backed Aliro's $2.7M seed in September 2019 (led by Flybridge, spun out of Harvard's Quantum Information Sciences Lab).

Three-position quantum book, entirely software and enabling layers: Aliro (entanglement-based secure networking), Classiq (quantum circuit design; Series B February 2022, Series C participation in the $110M round of May 2025) and Quantum Machines (quantum control; $50M Series B September 2021). All three sit on the official portfolio under AI & Robotics and Infrastructure.

Follower in every quantum round it has joined, writing checks alongside leads like Flybridge, Red Dot and Entrée Capital, with the strategic angle of connecting portfolio companies to Samsung's device and semiconductor ecosystem. Note: the IonQ position often attributed to Samsung belongs to Samsung Catalyst Fund, a sister vehicle with a separate team and mandate.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. Never leads quantum rounds: in all four confirmed deals (Aliro seed 2019, Quantum Machines B 2021, Classiq B 2022 and C 2025), Samsung Next is one name in a long participant list; do not expect it to price or anchor your round
  2. Attribution confusion is structural: IonQ's $55M round (October 2019) was led by Samsung Catalyst Fund, not Samsung Next, yet aggregators still merge the two; a Samsung intro is not a Samsung Next intro
  3. Footprint has shrunk: the Tel Aviv office, historically its deal-flow engine for Israeli quantum (Classiq, Quantum Machines), was shut down in April 2024 with the portfolio handled from the US; Israeli sourcing now runs without local presence
  4. No quantum-dedicated fund or partner is advertised: quantum lives inside Frontier Technology on a four-sector generalist page, and the firm skipped Aliro's 2023 round and its February 2026 $15M Series B, as well as Classiq's November 2025 strategic extension (AMD, Qualcomm Ventures, IonQ)
  5. New-deal cadence in quantum has stalled: no new quantum company has entered the portfolio since Classiq (2022); activity since is follow-on only

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
Aliro TechnologiesClassiq TechnologiesQuantum Machines

Frequent co-investors