Insider Brief
- Novo Holdings is increasing past its biotechnology roots with a €188 million initiative to develop quantum applied sciences that advance human and planetary well being, positioning itself as a cornerstone investor in Europe’s rising quantum financial system.
- The firm’s Quantum Investments technique connects quantum computing with AI, life sciences and sustainability, supported by large-scale Nordic infrastructure initiatives such because the Quantum Computing Programme and QuNorth, which intention to ascertain Level 2 and Level 3 quantum techniques.
- Early portfolio investments — together with Sparrow Quantum, Phasecraft, Quantonation II and 55 North — replicate Novo Holdings’ plan to construct a world quantum ecosystem by 2030, emphasizing convergence, scalability and measurable quantum benefit inside the decade.
Novo Holdings is positioning itself as a cornerstone investor in Europe’s rising quantum financial system, increasing past its roots in biotechnology with a €188 million dedication to develop quantum applied sciences aimed toward advancing each human and planetary well being, in keeping with the group’s latest report.
As envisioned in Novo Holding’s Quantum Investments Annual Review 2025, the corporate foresees a future the place quantum and biotech — and a number of different areas of curiosity — might be interconnected. Far from a speculative science challenge, the corporate’s technique views quantum as an enabling platform poised to fuse with synthetic intelligence, life-science analysis and sustainability functions inside the subsequent decade.
Novo Holdings’ determination to create a devoted Quantum Investments group in 2024 marks one of many largest personal European bets on quantum expertise. Backed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the fund’s mandate is to construct a linked Nordic and world ecosystem centered on quantum instruments and expertise related to healthcare and environmental modeling.
The agency’s management frames the transfer as a pure extension of its life-science mission.
“With Denmark as the centre of gravity, our ambition is to invest in, support and advance some of the world’s most promising quantum technologies,” Partner Jeroen Bakker writes in the report. “We focus on areas that can impact human and planetary health directly such as quantum algorithms and quantum sensing.”
The shift provides a possibility for strategic diversification. Known primarily because the holding firm and controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, with €142 billion in whole property underneath administration as of year-end 2024, and as one of many world’s greatest life-science buyers, Novo Holdings is now extending its attain into deep-tech industries constructed on superior computing and supplies science.
Building the Foundations of a Nordic Quantum Economy
The report outlines a coordinated public–personal plan to make the Nordics a hub for important quantum infrastructure, centered on growing Level 2 and Level 3 quantum computing techniques.
Quantum techniques are sometimes categorized by readiness ranges. Level 1 machines correspond to at present’s so-called NISQ units — highly effective however noisy processors suited primarily for analysis. Level 2 computer systems incorporate energetic error mitigation and logical qubits, making them steady sufficient for small-scale industrial and scientific use. Level 3 techniques add full fault tolerance, which means errors are routinely corrected quicker than they happen, enabling sustained calculations helpful in chemistry, supplies science and drug design.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has dedicated €267 million to the Quantum Computing Programme (NQCP), which goals to develop a fault-tolerant Level 3 quantum laptop for life-science functions.
A second challenge, QuNorth — collectively funded by the Foundation and Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) — will set up a commercially accessible Level 2 system in 2026. Built by Atom Computing and Microsoft, the machine, codenamed Magne, will present Nordic researchers entry to tens of logical qubits, putting it amongst Europe’s most superior techniques.
The program’s intent is regional self-reliance byt making certain that Nordic international locations can experiment with error-corrected quantum techniques with out relying on U.S. or Chinese cloud platforms. Copenhagen’s Quantum Foundry Copenhagen (QFC), created underneath the NQCP umbrella, will provide the supplies and chips that feed this pipeline, successfully giving the area its personal fabrication functionality for superconducting and neutral-atom units.
Lene Oddershede, the Foundation’s Chief Scientific Officer for Planetary Sciences & Technology, writes in the report: “Quantum technology is moving rapidly from research to real-world application, and it is essential that the Nordic region maintains and further strengthens its stronghold within this critical technology. This requires major and strategic investments in the development of flagship technology and the creation of a strong ecosystem that supports both academic excellence and industrial innovation.”
Convergence: Quantum Meets AI and Life Science
Novo Holdings’ thesis rests on the assertion that essentially the most fast and significant impression of quantum computing will happen on the intersection with AI-driven biomedical analysis. The report highlights quantum’s potential to speed up molecular simulation, drug discovery and biomarker evaluation — areas the place classical computation and machine studying are already reaching bodily and algorithmic limits.
Quantum processors might quickly mannequin advanced molecular interactions or protein folding pathways far past the attain of at present’s supercomputers, in keeping with the group, whereas quantum-enhanced machine studying might enhance sample recognition in medical knowledge and supplies design. Bakker initiatives that tangible quantum benefit for outlined functions might be achieved earlier than 2030.
The similar logic extends to planetary well being. Quantum sensors able to high-precision magnetic and gravitational measurements might enhance environmental monitoring, whereas quantum optimization algorithms could help cleaner manufacturing and logistics.
Portfolio: From Photons to Algorithms
In its first yr of operations, the Quantum Investments group executed a sequence of high-profile transactions that map throughout the quantum stack.
- Sparrow Quantum (Denmark): €21.5 million Series A spherical to scale deterministic single-photon sources for photonic quantum computer systems, safe communication and precision sensors.
- Phasecraft (United Kingdom): US$34 million Series B co-led by Novo Holdings to develop ultra-efficient quantum algorithms for supplies, vitality and pharmaceutical issues.
- Quantonation II (France): strategic fund dedication to one of many world’s first quantum-exclusive enterprise funds.
- Playground Global IV (United States): participation in a deep-tech fund with prior investments in PsiQuantum.
- 55 North (Denmark): cornerstone backing for a €134 million Nordic-anchored quantum enterprise fund investing globally throughout phases.
This mixture of direct and fund positions mirrors the corporate’s long-term strategy in life sciences to mix affected person capital with ecosystem constructing. The report outlines plans to develop to eight to 10 direct holdings and a number of fund stakes by 2030.
Interviews: Inside the Portfolio
The report contains interviews with founders whose corporations illustrate the following section of quantum commercialization.
Peter Lodahl, Chief Quantum Officer of Sparrow Quantum, describes his firm’s twenty-year path from elementary analysis on the Niels Bohr Institute to a scalable photonic platform:
‘We have built a unique deterministic photonic chip which generates the world’s most superior single-photon and entangled-photon states. This chip expertise can energy photonic quantum computing, web, communication and sensing. We give attention to constructing these high-performance elements and accomplice with main corporations who combine the total quantum stack.”
Ashley Montanaro, CEO of Phasecraft, frames the near-term problem as software program:
“The greatest challenge for anyone is that building a quantum computer is difficult! Quantum computing is still at an early stage – like the 1940s or 1950s equivalent of standard computing. Trying to get quantum hardware to do something useful is a massive challenge and so we need to make algorithms as efficient as possible. But not many people can do this kind of work; there are maybe only 100 people in the world that can develop new quantum algorithms. We have some amazing people on our team, but we need more people in the community that can do quantum algorithm design.”
Owen Lozman, Managing Partner at 55 North, argues that quantum is maturing from curiosity-driven analysis into utilized business:
“Enabling infrastructure is becoming more relevant to address the bottlenecks in quantum. Scaling the technology is both a challenge and an opportunity, which could lead to a focus on one or two companies that can really deliver some of those solutions. And that is quite exciting for us.”
Beyond the NISQ Era
Novo Holdings situates its quantum technique inside what it calls the transition from the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) section to a “megaquop era.” The time period describes techniques able to error correction, double-digit logical qubits and error charges 100–1,000 occasions decrease than these of early-2020s machines.
This shift coincides with an funding growth: PsiQuantum’s US$1 billion Series E, Quantinuum’s US$600 million increase at a US$10 billion valuation, IQM’s €275 million Series B (in which 55 North participated), and Classiq’s US$110 million Series C for quantum software program automation. Together they sign that quantum is transferring from “laboratory curiosity to industrial infrastructure,” because the report places it.
While optimism runs excessive, Novo Holdings cautions that technical and monetary hurdles stay. Qubit stability, noise suppression and error correction proceed to restrict scalability and many start-ups nonetheless face fragile valuations. Yet the development line factors towards consolidation round sturdy {hardware} and sensible algorithms — the area the place Novo Holdings is now planting its flag.
Denmark’s Century-Long Continuum
The report closes by linking at present’s investments to Denmark’s historic function in quantum physics. A century after Niels Bohr’s early work in Copenhagen outlined the sphere’s foundations, Denmark is once more changing into a middle for quantum innovation — this time via coordinated analysis, infrastructure and enterprise capital.
Institutions such because the Niels Bohr Institute, Technical University of Denmark and the Danish Quantum Community at the moment are tied to industrial gamers, financiers and authorities businesses via shared services like Quantum Denmark and the Niels Bohr Building. The area’s collective effort — spanning Finland’s {hardware} companies, Sweden’s photonics experience and Norway’s sensing specialization — suggests a mannequin for cross-border deep-tech growth.
Looking Ahead: Toward Measurable Quantum Advantage
Novo Holdings initiatives that by the top of this decade, quantum computing will show measurable advantages in drug discovery, supplies engineering and vitality modeling. Its convergence thesis — linking quantum computation with AI and life-science workflows — positions the agency as a bridge between two of essentially the most transformative applied sciences of the century.
Whether these expectations materialize relies on the sector’s capability to ship error-corrected machines, environment friendly algorithms and sustainable enterprise fashions. But with Novo Holdings’ capital and the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s infrastructure investments now aligned, the Nordics look like crafting a long-term industrial technique the place quantum expertise strikes from the laboratory to {the marketplace} — and from idea to tangible impression on human and planetary well being.