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Haiqu

Category: AI Infrastructure

A hardware-aware software platform designed to optimize quantum algorithms for near-term quantum processors, effectively boosting their performance and capacity. Haiqu was founded in 2022. The company is led by Richard Givhan. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $15M total. Latest round: Seed ($11M, Jan 2026). Key investors include ["Primary Venture Partners","MaC Venture Capital","Toyota Ventures","SOMA Capital","Qudit Investments","Alumni Ventures","Collaborative Fund","Silicon Roundabout Ventures","u.ventures","Red Sea Ventures","7percent Ventures","Unit Investment","Angel One Fund"].

Founded
2022
Headquarters
San Francisco, USA
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$15M total

Value proposition

Extends the utility of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices by reducing error rates and optimizing circuit execution.

Products and solutions

["Hardware-aware Quantum Operating System (Haiqu-OS)","Quantum Circuit Compression SDK","Noise-mitigation Middleware","Hardware-specific Compilation Tools"]

Unique value

Unlike hardware-agnostic software, Haiqu's 'hardware-aware' approach tailors software execution to the specific physical constraints and noise profiles of individual quantum chips.

Target customer

Quantum hardware manufacturers (OEMs), quantum cloud service providers, and enterprise R&D teams in deep-tech sectors.

Industries served

["Quantum Computing","Finance (Portfolio Optimization)","Pharmaceuticals (Drug Discovery)","Materials Science","Logistics & Supply Chain"]

Technology advantage

Proprietary algorithms that increase the 'effective' number of qubits and circuit depth without requiring physical hardware upgrades.

How they differentiate

Haiqu differentiates through 'hardware-aware' software that optimizes quantum algorithms based on specific physical constraints.

Main competitors

["Riverlane","Q-CTRL","Classiq","Horizon Quantum Computing"]

Key partnerships

["Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Quantum Stream","Toyota Ventures","MaC Venture Capital","Primary Venture Partners","Perimeter Institute","IBM","BMO (Bank of Montreal)","Capgemini","HSBC","Collaborations with major Quantum Hardware Providers (OEMs)"]

Notable customers

["BMO (Bank of Montreal)","Capgemini","HSBC","Quantum Hardware OEMs"]

Major milestones

["Founded in 2022","Closed $4M Pre-seed round in June 2023","Selected for CDL Quantum stream","Raised $11M Seed round in January 2026 led by Primary Venture Partners","Demonstrated anomaly detection with IBM (Nov 2025)","HSBC partnership demonstrating scalable quantum data encoding (Apr 2026)"]

Growth metrics

Expanded from a founding team in 2023 to a distributed R&D team of 11-50 employees; 2.75x increase in round size from Pre-seed to Seed.

Market positioning

Quantum infrastructure middleware provider bridging the gap between NISQ hardware limitations and enterprise-grade applications.

Geographic focus

North America, Europe, and Eastern Europe

Patents and IP

Proprietary IP focused on circuit optimization and noise suppression techniques.

About Richard Givhan

Richard Givhan is the Co-founder and CEO of Haiqu. Prior to founding the company, he was an Associate at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on deep tech, quantum computing strategy, and digital transformation for global enterprises. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

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