FrostByte raises €1.3M to solve quantum computing's wiring problem
What's the deal? FrostByteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Delft-based startup developing cryo-electronics for quantum computers, has raised €1.3M from InnovationQuarter CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Graduate VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Paeonia Group, UNIIQ, and an angel investor. The company builds specialised chips and switches that operate at temperatures near absolute zero, aiming to solve one of quantum computing's toughest scaling challenges: the massive tangle of cables needed to control millions of qubits.
Current quantum systems keep most control electronics outside the cryogenic environment. Every additional qubit means more cables, more complexity, and more heat — which disrupts the processors. FrostByte moves that control infrastructure closer to the qubits themselves using cryo-CMOS technology.
The startup's tech builds on more than a decade of research at TU Delft and QuTechDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Dutch quantum research institute. It is led by co-founders James Kroll (chief executive officer) and Luc Enthoven (chief technology officer), with scientific backing from Fabio Sebastiano and Masoud Babaie, both recognised pioneers in cryo-CMOS.
Why now? Quantum hardware companies worldwide are racing to scale from hundreds of qubits to millions. That leap makes the cabling bottleneck impossible to ignore. Without a way to shrink the control infrastructure, bigger quantum processors simply won't fit inside the dilution refrigerators they need to function.
FrostByte plans to use the funding to expand its team, scale up production of cryogenic switches, and develop integrated cryo-CMOS chips designed to drastically reduce the size and complexity of future quantum systems.
What could go wrong? Operating electronics at near-absolute-zero temperatures is notoriously difficult. Cryo-CMOS chips must be reliable and energy-efficient enough not to introduce the very heat they're meant to eliminate. Manufacturing at scale adds another layer of uncertainty — translating lab-proven concepts into production-ready hardware is where many deep-tech startups stumble.
The market is also early. Commercial demand depends on quantum computers reaching a scale where the wiring problem becomes a real purchasing decision, not just a research concern.
The signal: FrostByte's round underscores growing investor appetite for quantum infrastructure plays rather than quantum processors themselves. The involvement of regional investment funds like InnovationQuarter Capital and UNIIQ — vehicles specifically designed to commercialise Zuid-Holland research — illustrates how the Netherlands is systematically converting its academic quantum strength, centred on QuTech and TU Delft, into a pipeline of funded spin-offs tackling the sector's unglamorous but essential engineering bottlenecks.
Read more: innovationquarter.nl
