Quantum AI Startup Qutwo Raises Over NT$900 Million in Angel Round, Setting Finnish Record
Qutwo, a quantum AI startup founded by former Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin, has completed an angel funding round of over NT$900 million, setting a new record in Finland. The company focuses on quantum-inspired computing and aims to become a global AI leader from Europe.
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- 📰 Published: May 6, 2026 at 23:01
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Wu Chi-lin, Helsinki 6th exclusive report) Less than two years after selling his previous company, former Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin has founded another quantum AI startup, Qutwo. The company recently announced the completion of a 25 million euro (approximately NT$925 million) angel funding round, valuing the company at 325 million euros (approximately NT$12.02 billion).
The list of investors is almost a who's who of Finnish technology and finance, including banking magnate Björn Wahlroos, KONE Chairman Antti Herlin, Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen, and Wolt founder Miki Kuusi. International investors include DST Global founder Yuri Milner and several European tech new money.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, this is the largest early-stage angel funding round in Finnish history.
Sarlin stated that he deliberately rejected venture capital funds that offered higher valuations. He said that the story of Silo AI made one thing clear to him: Europe failed to cultivate a leader in this wave of AI. "We want to build a global AI leader from Europe for the next paradigm."
Qutwo is currently the only company in Europe positioned in the quantum AI software platform field. Its closest competitor across the Atlantic is Sandbox AQ, a subsidiary of Alphabet in the United States, which completed a $450 million funding round last year at a valuation of $5.7 billion, far exceeding Qutwo's scale.
Sarlin's plan is to make Qutwo the standard-setter in this market before quantum computing goes mainstream. He hopes to help companies enter the quantum computing era before GPU computing power peaks.
Sarlin holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems and is currently a professor at Aalto University. In his early career, he served as an advisor to the European Central Bank and founded Silo AI in 2017. After selling Silo AI, he also led the defense AI startup Nest AI. Last autumn, Nest AI announced that it had received 100 million euros (approximately NT$3.698 billion) from Nokia and Tesi, a private equity firm under the Finnish government, and began cooperation with the Finnish Defence Forces.
Quantum computers are not yet capable of commercially meaningful practical applications, and widespread adoption is still several years away. Sarlin's entry point is what he calls "quantum-inspired computing": simulating quantum computing behavior with traditional computers, allowing companies to achieve near-quantum level computing benefits now, without waiting for quantum hardware itself to mature.
The Qutwo OS platform plays a central role in orchestrating AI tasks, allowing companies to flexibly switch between traditional computers, quantum simulation environments, and future true quantum hardware.
Sarlin stated directly: "We are an AI company, just built for the quantum world." Qutwo was founded only two months ago and has already signed cooperation agreements with German e-commerce company Zalando and Finnish financial group OP Pohjola, totaling over 20 million euros.
In 2024, Sarlin sold Silo AI to US chip giant AMD for $665 million (approximately NT$20.95 billion), which was the largest acquisition in the history of the European AI industry.
AMD subsequently established an R&D center in Taiwan, investing over NT$15 billion and recruiting over a thousand AI talents annually, bringing the company founded by this Finnish entrepreneur into contact with Taiwan's semiconductor industry.
Angel round funding typically occurs after the seed round, with angel investors providing capital to help startups with initial products translate ideas into actual business operations. (Editor: Tien Jui-hua) 1150506
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(Central News Agency reporter Wu Chi-lin, Helsinki 6th exclusive report) Less than two years after selling his previous company, former Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin has founded another quantum AI startup, Qutwo. The company recently announced the completion of a 25 million euro (approximately NT$925 million) angel funding round, valuing the company at 325 million euros (approximately NT$12.02 billion).
The list of investors is almost a who's who of Finnish technology and finance, including banking magnate Björn Wahlroos, KONE Chairman Antti Herlin, Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen, and Wolt founder Miki Kuusi. International investors include DST Global founder Yuri Milner and several European tech new money.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, this is the largest early-stage angel funding round in Finnish history.
Sarlin stated that he deliberately rejected venture capital funds that offered higher valuations. He said that the story of Silo AI made one thing clear to him: Europe failed to cultivate a leader in this wave of AI. "We want to build a global AI leader from Europe for the next paradigm."
Qutwo is currently the only company in Europe positioned in the quantum AI software platform field. Its closest competitor across the Atlantic is Sandbox AQ, a subsidiary of Alphabet in the United States, which completed a $450 million funding round last year at a valuation of $5.7 billion, far exceeding Qutwo's scale.
Sarlin's plan is to make Qutwo the standard-setter in this market before quantum computing goes mainstream. He hopes to help companies enter the quantum computing era before GPU computing power peaks.
Sarlin holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems and is currently a professor at Aalto University. In his early career, he served as an advisor to the European Central Bank and founded Silo AI in 2017. After selling Silo AI, he also led the defense AI startup Nest AI. Last autumn, Nest AI announced that it had received 100 million euros (approximately NT$3.698 billion) from Nokia and Tesi, a private equity firm under the Finnish government, and began cooperation with the Finnish Defence Forces.
Quantum computers are not yet capable of commercially meaningful practical applications, and widespread adoption is still several years away. Sarlin's entry point is what he calls "quantum-inspired computing": simulating quantum computing behavior with traditional computers, allowing companies to achieve near-quantum level computing benefits now, without waiting for quantum hardware itself to mature.
The Qutwo OS platform plays a central role in orchestrating AI tasks, allowing companies to flexibly switch between traditional computers, quantum simulation environments, and future true quantum hardware.
Sarlin stated directly: "We are an AI company, just built for the quantum world." Qutwo was founded only two months ago and has already signed cooperation agreements with German e-commerce company Zalando and Finnish financial group OP Pohjola, totaling over 20 million euros.
In 2024, Sarlin sold Silo AI to US chip giant AMD for $665 million (approximately NT$20.95 billion), which was the largest acquisition in the history of the European AI industry.
AMD subsequently established an R&D center in Taiwan, investing over NT$15 billion and recruiting over a thousand AI talents annually, bringing the company founded by this Finnish entrepreneur into contact with Taiwan's semiconductor industry.
Angel round funding typically occurs after the seed round, with angel investors providing capital to help startups with initial products translate ideas into actual business operations. (Editor: Tien Jui-hua) 1150506
Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship you make is a force to protect press freedom.
Download CNA's "First-hand News" APP to stay updated with the latest news.
The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.