Peter Sarlin’s QuTwo reaches $380M valuation in angel round

QuTwo, a Finnish AI laboratory established by Peter Sarlin, the former CEO of AMD Silo AI, has achieved a valuation of €325 million (approximately $380 million) following a successful €25 million angel funding round ($29 million). This development underscores the strong momentum for AI, quantum computing, and sovereign technology, particularly for companies originating in Europe.

While QuTwo’s name hints at quantum computing, the company hasn’t fully committed to this domain. Its flagship product, QuTwo OS, serves as an orchestration platform, managing tasks across classical, quantum, or hybrid systems. The approach is based on the premise that enterprise needs are often best met by “quantum-inspired” computing, which involves using classical processors to emulate quantum behaviors on more stable hardware.

The main focus for QuTwo is enterprise AI, which forms the core of its business. The company has already secured approximately $23 million in guaranteed revenue through design collaborations with companies such as the retail giant Zalando, aiding in the development of AI assistants. “AI is the North Star that we will continue to aim for. Quantum is just a new type of compute,” Sarlin emphasized, asserting QuTwo’s identity as an AI firm.

Interest in European AI laboratories has been growing, with several achieving unicorn status swiftly. Recently, David Silver, a former DeepMind researcher, raised $1.1 billion for his new venture, Ineffable Intelligence. In contrast, QuTwo’s valuation and funding are relatively modest, allowing the company to pursue its objectives with less pressure.

Sarlin, who acts as QuTwo’s executive chairman, noted that he adopted a similar approach with his prior company, Silo AI, which was acquired by AMD for $665 million in 2024. “I had a lot of investors who would have wanted to pour a lot of money into making Silo into Europe’s OpenAI, but I didn’t believe in that play,” he told JS.

QuTwo aims to operate with a long-term perspective, planning over a five- to ten-year timeframe. Sarlin stated, “We are on a mission to build the globally leading AI company for the next paradigm, given that Europe did not succeed in building the AI company for this era.”

Sarlin is not skeptical about European AI, of which he is a significant supporter. He is not opposed to large funding rounds — he disclosed his investment in Yann LeCun’s Ami Labs, which raised $1.03 billion, and in British-American venture Recursive Superintelligence, rumored to be taking a similar path. However, he felt that a billion-dollar investment or venture capital was not suitable for QuTwo, at least for now.

Until recently, QuTwo received funding exclusively from Sarlin’s family office, PostScriptum, which also nurtured NestAI, another venture where Sarlin holds the role of executive chairman. While NestAI successfully raised $115 million in a funding round led by Finland’s sovereign fund and Nokia, QuTwo had not aimed to seek external capital.

Nonetheless, when QuTwo’s soft launch attracted considerable interest earlier this year, Sarlin opted to decline offers from venture capitalists and strategic investors, choosing instead to accept an angel round, partly influenced by the current geopolitical landscape in Europe.

As Europe increasingly prioritizes local alternatives to U.S. tech firms, there are favorable conditions for AI companies established in Finland. Additionally, there is significant investor interest in a company poised to advance ambitious research and development initiatives in sectors where the region already excels, such as automotive, life sciences, and gaming.

On the other hand, Sarlin anticipates QuTwo’s angel investors could facilitate connections across Europe. The potential for introductions is substantial with this group, which includes notable figures such as Yuri Milner, Xavier Niel, Nico Rosberg, Dieter Schwarz, and Niklas Zennström, as well as numerous startup founders from Hugging Space, Legora, Miro, Skype, Supercell, Wolt, and more.

This support will also aid QuTwo’s expansion, which recently extended into Sweden and has been actively recruiting. Sarlin mentioned that around 50 quantum and AI scientists have joined the team, which features two additional serial entrepreneurs: his former cofounder at Silo, Kaj-Mikael Björk; and Kuan Yen Tan, a cofounder at IQM, the Finnish quantum enterprise preparing to go public.

QuTwo’s link with IQM also highlights the company’s belief in the imminent quantum era — a future it is eager to embrace. Sarlin remarked, “The question for repeat founders like [us] is how can we have even a larger impact. In the long term, it’s important for Europe that we build the AI company for the next paradigm out of Europe. But, in the short term, we can have a significant impact in driving ambitious R&D moon shots in Europe.”