Democratizing Quantum Venture Investing with Chris Sklarin
Your host, Sebastian Hassinger, talks with Alumni Ventures managing partner Chris Sklarin about how one of the most active US venture firms is building a quantum portfolio while “democratizing” access to VC as an asset class for individual investors. They dig into Alumni Ventures’ co‑investor model, how the firm thinks about quantum hardware, software, and sensing, and why quantum should be viewed as a long‑term platform with near‑term pockets of commercial value. Chris also explains how accredited investors can start seeing quantum deal flow through Alumni Ventures’ syndicate.
Chris’ background and Alumni Ventures in a nutshell
- Chris is an MIT‑trained engineer who spent years in software startups before moving into venture more than 20 years ago.
- Alumni Ventures is a roughly decade‑old firm focused on “democratizing venture capital” for individual investors, with over 11,000 LPs, more than 1.5 billion dollars raised, and about 1,300 active portfolio companies.
- The firm has been repeatedly recognized as a highly active VC by CB Insights, PitchBook, Stanford GSB, and Time magazine.
How Alumni Ventures structures access for individuals
- Most investors come in as individuals into LLC‑structured funds rather than traditional GP/LP funds.
- Alumni Ventures always co‑invests alongside a lead VC, using the lead’s conviction, sector expertise, and diligence as a key signal.
- The platform also offers a syndicate where accredited investors can opt in to see and back individual deals, including those tagged for quantum.
Quantum in the Alumni Ventures portfolio
- Alumni Ventures has 5–6 quantum‑related investments spanning hardware, software, and applications, including Rigetti, Atom Computing, Q‑CTRL, Classiq, and quantum‑error‑mitigation startup Qedma/Cadmus.
- Rigetti was one of the firm’s earliest quantum investments; the team followed on across multiple rounds and was able to return capital to investors after Rigetti’s SPAC and a strong period in the public markets.
- Chris also highlights interest in Cycle Dre (a new company from Rigetti’s former CTO) and application‑layer companies like InQ and quantum sensing players.
Barbell funding and the “3–5 year” view
- Chris responds to the now‑familiar “barbell” funding picture in quantum— a few heavily funded players and a long tail of small companies—by emphasizing near‑term revenue over pure science experiments.
- He sees quantum entering an era where companies must show real products, customers, and revenue, not just qubit counts.
- Over the next 3–5 years, he expects meaningful commercial traction first in areas like quantum sensing, navigation, and point solutions in chemistry and materials, with full‑blown fault‑tolerant systems further out.
Hybrid compute and NVIDIA’s signal to the market
- Chris points to Jensen Huang’s GTC 2025 keynote slide on NVIDIA’s hybrid quantum–GPU ecosystem, where Alumni Ventures portfolio companies such as Atom Computing, Classiq, and Rigetti appeared.
- He notes that NVIDIA will not put “science projects” on that slide—those partnerships reflect a view that quantum processors will sit tightly coupled next to GPUs to handle specific workloads.
- He also mentions a large commercial deal between NVIDIA and Groq (a classical AI chip company in his portfolio) as another sign of a more heterogeneous compute future that quantum will plug into.
Where near‑term quantum revenue shows up
- Chris expects early commercial wins in sensing, GPS‑denied navigation, and other narrow but valuable applications before broad “quantum advantage” in general‑purpose computing.
- Software and middleware players can generate revenue sooner by making today’s hardware more stable, more efficient, or easier to program, and by integrating into classical and AI workflows.
- He stresses that investors love clear revenue paths that fit into the 10‑year life of a typical venture fund.
University spin‑outs, clustering, and deal flow
- Alumni Ventures certainly sees clustering around strong quantum schools like MIT, Harvard, and Yale, but Chris emphasizes that the “alumni angle” is secondary to the quality of the venture deal.
- Mature tech‑transfer offices and standard Delaware C‑corps mean spinning out quantum IP from universities is now a well‑trodden path.
- Chris leans heavily on network effects—Alumni Ventures’ 800,000‑person network and 1,300‑company CEO base—as a key channel for discovering the most interesting quantum startups.
Managing risk in a 100‑hardware‑company world
- With dozens of hardware approaches now in play, Chris uses Alumni Ventures’ co‑investor model and lead‑investor diligence as a filter rather than picking purely on physics bets.
- He looks for teams with credible near‑term commercial pathways and for mechanisms like sensing or middleware that can create value even if fault‑tolerant systems arrive later than hoped.
- He compares quantum to past enabling waves like nanotech, where the biggest impact often shows up as incremental improvements rather than a single “big bang” moment.
Democratizing access to quantum venture
- Alumni Ventures allows accredited investors to join its free syndicate, self‑attest accreditation, and then see deal materials—watermarked and under NDA—for individual investments, including quantum.
- Chris encourages people to think in terms of diversified funds (20–30 deals per fund year) rather than only picking single names in what is a power‑law asset class.
- He frames quantum as a long‑duration infrastructure play with near‑term pockets of usefulness, where venture can help investors participate in the upside without getting ahead of reality.
Creators and Guests
Guest
Chris Sklarin
Chris Sklarin is Managing Partner of the Castor Fund at Alumni Ventures, where for over seven years he has led investments in transformative technology companies redefining how we compute, communicate, and cure.