In this edition of our Investor Spotlight, we connected with the team at Lansdowne Partners to learn more about their vision and why they back silicon quantum computing company Quantum Motion.
Q: Could you introduce Lansdowne Partners and share your investment philosophy?
Our team was founded in 2001 as the Lansdowne Developed Markets team. Our strategy has continued to evolve while remaining rooted in fundamental investing. At our core, we look to deeply understand the most important trends shaping the world and seek investments that align and optimise for those long-term views. Whilst much of our history lies in the public markets, we have been very keen supporters of the UK VC ecosystem, focused mainly on higher IP areas. We have been particularly involved in University IP, working closely alongside the university spinout ecosystem, which has been gaining strong traction in recent years.
Q: What sparked your decision to invest in Quantum Motion?
We began focusing directly on quantum computing in 2019, primarily alongside our broader work in Oxford. For the first time, hardware was reaching tangible performance levels and beginning to leave the lab. Our initial bets were in trapped ions and superconducting, which had been the more established modalities at the time. We continued to track developments across other teams, and we were very impressed with Quantum Motion’s progress within silicon spin. We feel very excited by some of the natural advantages of silicon, including the potential for lower cost systems at scale, as well as the ability to leverage existing semiconductor infrastructure.
Q: Which of Quantum Motion’s milestones are you mot proud of?
We have been impressed by the team’s progress through the DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) program. We feel that many people don’t fully realise just how comprehensive and leading this is, and passing through these hurdles is a clear demonstration of the technical credentials and partnership mentality we think vital for this stage in quantum. We have also been impressed by Quantum Motion’s core hardware KPIs including key fidelity metrics and manufacturing proof points. Furthermore, the team shows a unique breadth across the quantum stack, from core hardware design through to error correction regimes, demonstrating the dynamic problem-solving needed to tackle both near- and medium-term hurdles.
Q: Why do you believe Quantum Motion can become a global leader?
Fundamentally, if you believe that compute and intelligence will continue to grow in value, quantum computing provides an entirely new paradigm for framing highly complex questions. As quantum builds towards this goal, we believe this team continues to demonstrate very impressive progress. The team has achieved leading technical metrics, whilst remaining exceptionally capital efficient and also long-term commercially minded as well. If the team can continue to execute across its technical roadmap, we believe the company has the potential to become a true global leader.