Estonian Plural invests in British startup Phasecraft

Venture capital firm Plural, founded by Estonian entrepreneurs Sten Tamkivi and Taavet Hinrikus, has led a €34M round for Bristol-based Phasecraft, a quantum algorithms company. Other lead investors included Playground Global, Novo Holdings’ Quantum Fund with the participation of some existing investors.

Phasecraft is a British company engaged in the development of quantum algorithms. The startup's mission is to accelerate the practical application of quantum computing by reworking quantum algorithms for modern imperfect quantum computers. Phasecraft was founded in 2019 by Toby Cubitt, Ashley Montanaro, and John Morton, expert quantum scientists who have led top research teams at UCL and the University of Bristol. Phasecraft works in partnership with leading quantum hardware companies, including Google, IBM, Quantinuum.

Founded in 2022 by Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus, Ian Hogarth, and Khaled Helioui, Plural focuses on leading early-stage rounds between €1M and €10M. In 2023, a new partner, AI-driven biotech HelixNano founder, and VC investor Carina Namih joined Plural. The fund has its own rule that requires all of Plural's partners to make personal co-investments in the deals they lead.

Playground Global is a venture capital firm specializing in investments in companies operating in the field of deep technology. Founded in 2015, it is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Novo Holdings is a Danish holding and investment company responsible for managing the assets and capital of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development and also manages an extensive portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, and infrastructure assets, as well as private equity investments.