AsianFin--Micro Era, a Chinese quantum software company, has recently completed a multi-million yuan Pre-A round of financing.

This round of financing was co-led by Hefei High-tech VC and Kunlun Capital. The funds will primarily be used to advance the application of quantum computing in the biomass-related industry and the research and production of new materials.

Hefei Micro Era Digital Technology Co., Ltd., established in 2022, focuses on the application of software algorithms related to quantum computing. In the initial stage, its products are primarily used in the fields of biopharmaceuticals and new materials.

By leveraging high-precision quantum chemical computation methods, they assist biopharmaceutical and new material companies in designing molecular formulas. After over more than two years of accumulating technical and industrial experience, Micro Era is working on a hybrid experimental and production platform based on quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

The so-called quantum industry consists of a quantum foundational platform, quantum-specific software, and industry application software. The quantum foundational platform primarily provides quantum computing power, quantum-specific software is used for mathematical modeling, and industry application software combines domain-specific knowledge to solve industry-specific problems.

Traditional AI algorithms are essentially derived from statistics and require vast datasets. They face challenges such as insufficient datasets, low data precision, and poor data quality. Fields like biopharmaceuticals and new materials have a huge demand for data, and high data costs and poor-quality data can directly affect computational outcomes.

Quantum application algorithms, on the other hand, are based on the first principle thinking, leveraging fundamental physical laws to predict the physical and chemical properties of molecules and material performance. They can achieve excellent molecular-level research outcomes without extensive experimental data. Quantum mechanics provides more detailed material data, and therefore more precise computational results.

The quantum industry has made significant progress over the past year, with leading companies like Google and IBM showcasing the latest computational achievements.

Google introduced technology that improves quantum computing error correction, and IBM unveiled the world’s first modular quantum computing system, IBM Quantum System 2. The pace of quantum computer hardware development influences the progress of entire industry.

Quantum computing still faces many challenges in development and practical industrial application, Lv Chuan, the founder and CEO of Micro Era, told TMTPost.

Apart from the need for extremely high cross-disciplinary collaboration capabilities, current complex industrial demands present new gaps for system innovation in algorithms and predictive models in multi-scale computation. To address these practical industrial pain points, Micro Era focuses on developing a comprehensive set of industrial technical capabilities, covering computational simulation, wet lab verification, actual production, and production process optimization, he added.

Regarding talent, Micro Era's core team mainly comes from the School of Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Due to USTC’s interdisciplinary training mechanism, they have backgrounds in biology, chemistry, and AI.

The company also collaborates with top domestic universities, research institutions, and enterprises, boasting strong research capabilities and academic accumulation. The team includes talents from Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and the University of Melbourne, covering various areas such as quantum algorithm research, software engineering, and computational architecture, forming a diverse research team with thorough studies in quantum algorithms and applications.

With regard to the technical product, Micro Era has developed a stabilizer quantum coding method and accumulated numerous patents since 2022. They have verified this method with actual cases and clients in different application scenarios, with some clients' research work reaching the clinical stage.

Under this software methodology platform, Micro Era has explored methods for applying quantum computing in the chemical field. They continuously expand their business scope, focusing on small molecule drug industry research and development in 2022, launching nucleic acid drug design in 2023, and exploring protein design for antibody-antigen drugs. In the materials field, they are delving into bio-based polymer materials and bio-based hydrogels. By 2024-2025, they aim to complete the construction of an efficient bioenergy platform and prepare for the pilot process testing for actual production.

In terms of practical applications, its main areas of focus are pharmaceuticals and materials. Their products have already been integrated into pharmaceutical companies' drug design pipelines, participating in the design of small molecule and nucleic acid drugs, promoting the industrialization of quantum computing.

Lv noted that traditional material experts are not very familiar with quantum computing, but biologists and chemical engineers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about computational tools and have a better understanding and acceptance of quantum chemistry and structural biology applications.

In terms of business model, Micro Era collaborates with quantum computer hardware companies to provide quantum software and application-level tools, creating an integrated supply chain of computing power and hardware-software integration. Since its inception, Micro Era's client base has grown from over ten in 2022 to more than 30.

Additionally, Micro Era has ventured to the global markets. Given China’s leading position in quantum computing capabilities, they have also marketed their products in Russia, integrating into energy and chemical enterprises, driving the export of China’s quantum industry to overseas markets.

Lv emphasized that Quantum computers are still in its infancy. “We believe that quantum computers can potentially surpass the limitations of traditional computers within the next five to ten years,” he said.