About this episode
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 nutshellChris 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 individualsMost 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 portfolioAlumni 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” viewChris 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 th
