Why us

How we pick funds, and what we never claim.

This directory should pass the test of a skeptical founder reading it at midnight. Here is what gets a fund in, how the numbers are computed, what we never do, and who stands behind it.

104 quantum-active funds mapped
18 countries covered
4 conviction tiers, from pure-play to opportunistic
7 sub-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 does not ship a beta in six months. A fund dormant by SaaS standards can still be very active in quantum. We use 18-month liveness windows, the convention of The Quantum Insider and GQI.

Capex shape

Hardware-heavy, capex front-loaded.

Cryostats, dilution refrigerators, photonic foundry runs, clean-room access. Tickets and burn look more like semiconductors than enterprise software, and the funds underwriting them reserve differently.

LP base

Sovereign, corporate, deep-tech LPs.

National strategies, the EU Quantum Flagship, corporate balance sheets. 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.

We split investors into four conviction tiers, because a pure-play fund and a generalist with one opportunistic cheque do not behave the same way in a round. Two further funds are flagged as pre-quantum signaling, listed for transparency but not yet tiered.

Pure-play

9 funds

Quantum is the thesis: mandate, fund name, every cheque. Fastest decision windows, deepest technical diligence, leads 80%+ of rounds.

Deep-tech active

41 funds

Multi-vertical but writing. Quantum is one of a few pockets, with two or more quantum cheques in 36 months and a partner who owns the space.

Strategic CVC

18 funds

Corporate balance sheet. Slower, but unique value-add: pilot deployments, foundry access, supply-chain pull-through. Read the strategic intent first.

Opportunistic

34 funds

One cheque, possibly the last. Listed for transparency, rarely worth six weeks of pitching unless partner-fit is exceptional.

Inclusion criteria

A fund appears here when all five are true.

We are conservative on inclusion. A misleading listing wastes a founder a week, so if a fund is borderline we wait and verify.

  1. 01

    Quantum-active

    An explicit quantum thesis, or at least two announced quantum investments closed in the last 36 months.

  2. 02

    Active in the last 18 months

    At least one announced primary quantum investment, a new position, closed within 18 months. Dormant funds are delisted within a quarter.

  3. 03

    Primary investor vehicle

    Institutional funds, evergreen funds, mandated family offices, structured syndicates. SPV-only vehicles and dealflow groups are excluded.

  4. 04

    Public-facing

    A working website, a visible portfolio, a reachable contact. Stealth funds are listed only once they surface a public persona.

  5. 05

    Verifiable thesis

    A positioning statement we can verify from public writing or portfolio. Theses contradicted by the last ten cheques are flagged, not passed silently.

Fund signals

The four numbers on every card.

Best-effort estimates from public data. Estimates have error bars. A softer-than-usual signal gets a confidence flag on the card.

Quantum cheques / year

Three-year trailing average of announced primary quantum investments. Generalist deals and follow-ons excluded.

avg(new_quantum_positions[Y-1..Y-3])

Lead ratio

Share of recent rounds the fund priced or led. Sourced from press, LP reports and public term sheets.

led_rounds / total_rounds

Decision window

First meeting to term sheet. Self-reported by the GP, triangulated with three or more recent portfolio founders.

[p25, p75] in weeks

Reserve %

Share of the fund kept for follow-ons. Sourced from LPAs where available, else GP disclosure.

reserves / total_committed

What makes it different

Built for quantum founders.

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.

Data sources

Public, transparent, and verifiable.

We use a small set of sources and cross-check them against each other. When two sources disagree, we default to the more conservative number and note the discrepancy.

  • Fund websites primary source of thesis, portfolio, contact, stage, ticket range.
  • Press releases and LP disclosures primary source of cheque pace and lead ratio.
  • Quantum ecosystem trackers The Quantum Insider deal database, GQI reports, EU Quantum Flagship and QuIC public data, reference for fund vintage, lifecycle signals, and quantum-specific deal flow.
  • Founder interviews 5 to 10 per month, on-the-record when possible. Key input to decision window.
  • GP correspondence each GP gets to confirm their card before publication.
  • We never use paid screen-scrapers, anonymous rumors, or LinkedIn signal trackers.

Update cadence

When each thing is refreshed.

Fund profile (thesis, stage, ticket)
Monthly
Fund signals
Monthly
Portfolio list
Monthly
Contact details
Continuous
Removal request from GP
Same day
Correction from founder or GP
Within 7 days

Independent by design

Boundaries matter as much as features.

A directory that over-promises becomes a ranking, and rankings quietly turn into ads. These are the lines we do not cross.

  • We never rank funds. Order is alphabetical or filter-driven, no top-10 list, ever.
  • We never predict outcomes. A matching fund is a mandate fit, not a yes.
  • We never broker introductions. This is a directory, not an intro network.
  • We never take money from funds. No pay-to-list, no sponsored slots, no featured placements.
  • We never share founder data with funds. Your profile serves your search, nothing else.
  • We never hide mistakes. Corrections are public and timestamped on the fund card.

Sources: fund websites, press and LP disclosures, quantum ecosystem trackers (The Quantum Insider, GQI, EU Quantum Flagship, QuIC), and 5 to 10 on-the-record founder interviews a month. Each GP confirms their card before publication. Profiles and signals are refreshed monthly, contact details continuously, corrections within 7 days, GP removal requests the same day.

How we keep the lights on

Transparent, or it's not worth doing.

We don't take money from the funds we list. There's no premium tier, no boost, no editorial influence to buy. The advisory work pays for the directory.

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

Who's behind this

Your finance partner.

Every engagement is led end-to-end by someone who has sat on both sides of the table, closed founder rounds, and run diligence for the funds writing the cheques.

A finance partner who has lived the founder side, the investor side, and the due diligence phase, and brings all three to your raise.

Background
Former Big 4, venture capital and tech banking.
Today
Fractional CFO of VC-backed tech startups, and due-diligence advisor to PE and VC funds investing in tech.
Also
Mentor at Next AI, Plug and Play, OVHcloud, and several coaching programs.
Financial projectionsRevenue modelCap table pro formaExit strategy

CFO Fractal · Quantum practice

The CFO desk this directory is built on.

Learn more

Errors and corrections

We'll get things wrong. Here's how to tell us.

Data changes. Teams pivot. Fund mandates shift. If something on a card is out of date, misleading, or flat wrong, the fastest fix is to fill out the submission form with the correction flag. We respond within 7 days, faster for removal requests from a fund.

Spotted something off?

Use the submit form, flag it as a correction, we'll handle the rest.

Submit a correction

See the directory the method produces.

Browse the investor directory