Before quantum computing arrives, this startup is looking for businesses that are already working on it

Eighteen months after selling his startup to chip maker AMD for $665 million, Finnish entrepreneur Peter Sarlin has stepped down from his role as CEO of the division now known as AMD Silo AI. He is now the chairman of two new companies: NestAI’s AI lab, and QuTwo, an AI startup that aims to help companies prepare for the quantum computing era.

Currently fully funded by the Sarlin family office, PostScriptum, QuTwo describes itself as an “AI lab for the quantum era.” However, instead of waiting for quantum computing to mature, it is already working with business clients – including European fashion retailer Zalando, in developing what the two companies call “lifestyle agents,” AI tools designed to skip product searches and proactively recommend products and information.

QuTwo is built on the premise that AI is hitting a functional wall that quantum computing will eventually help solve. But the company isn’t betting on when that will happen, Sarlin told TechCrunch. Instead, the startup is building QuTwo OS as an orchestration layer that allows companies to move from classical to quantum computing – using hybrid computing along the way.

Sarlin has invested in Finnish quantum companies IQM and QMill through PostScriptum, and is one of a growing number of investors who believe it will eventually surpass traditional computers in a variety of industrial applications while reducing the power demands of AI. But he also thinks that early use cases will require mixed hardware environments, and that businesses will want to focus on their business problems while QuTwo OS takes care of the router.

For that reason, the potential advantage of the medium known as “quantum-inspired” computing is that it already works today, because it uses primitive hardware while simulating quantum behavior, working close to the barriers that still prevent quantum hardware. Meanwhile, QuTwo OS is designed to be flexible, supporting quantum or non-quantum algorithms and chips alike.

The QuTwo team brings experience on both sides of the quantum-AI divide. On the quantum side, there is IQM founder Kuan Yen Tan and board member Antti Vasara, who is also chairman at SemiQon, a Finnish semiconductor startup focused on quantum chips. The business side is equally represented, by Sarlin himself and Kaj-Mikael Björk, one of his former co-founders at Silo AI. Pekka Lundmark, former CEO of the Finnish giant Nokia, also joined the board of QuTwo.

In both locations, the team counts more than 30 quantum and AI scientists, and Sarlin is clear about where the company stands. “We’re building a quantum world, but QuTwo is an AI company,” he said, meaning QuTwo is “pushing loads of AI from classical to quantum.”

This also means that its customer base can be wide. Beyond Zalando, QuTwo also launched a joint quantum AI research program with OP Pohjola, Finland’s largest financial services provider.

From the start, QuTwo has focused on commerce and already has “large design partnerships worth tens of millions,” Sarlin said. Design partnerships – where a retailer jointly develops its product with business customers – is a way for QuTwo to learn what those customers expect as it builds its product. And they’re a bet from businesses that want to establish an early foothold when and if quantum computing arrives.