Quantum Computing Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

Conductor Quantum is building quantum superintelligence: AI that operates quantum computers to make scientific discoveries beyond human reach. Quantum computers let us understand the world at its most fundamental level, the path to new drugs, new materials, and discoveries no human can reach alone. A quantum computer is the perfect simulator of nature: it encodes the logic of reality into a programmable machine, atom by atom, electron by electron. Give AI that simulator and you open the door to discovery. The bottleneck is operating the hardware. Today, engineers spend days or weeks by hand to bring a chip to operating conditions for just two qubits. A qubit is the information-carrying unit of a quantum computer, the equivalent of a bit in a classical one, and a useful machine needs billions. Removing the human from that loop is only half the problem. Every command an AI sends to a quantum computer must be optimised for the specific hardware it runs on. We build the AI that operates quantum computers and tunes every machine it runs on. That is the path to quantum superintelligence.

Menten AI designs protein drugs and enzymes using quantum computing and machine learning. Their technology leapfrogs current computational methods making it possible to design previously intractable proteins. The team created the first protein design algorithm for current and near-term quantum computers and created the world’s first protein designed on a quantum computer. They are now working on 3 new proteins, including a peptide to prevent the spread of viruses like Covid-19. They have 2 paid pilot projects with multinational chemical companies and 4 LOI’s with pharma and biotech companies.

Rigetti Computing is building the world’s most powerful computers to help solve humanity’s most pressing and important problems. These systems will perform computations that today’s fastest supercomputers are incapable of — unlocking entirely new classes of problems and offering a direct path to solutions. We are scientists, engineers, builders, and visionaries. We believe quantum computing is going to significantly affect health care, how we treat disease, how we generate energy, and how we feed humanity. Rigetti is the only company deploying full-stack solutions for hybrid classical/quantum computing. Our 19-qubit quantum computer is available online through our Forest platform, and the first commercially useful applications are already under exploration. We were founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti, and are located Berkeley and Fremont, California.