Classiq

Overview

Classiq is an Israeli software company that treats quantum programming the way chip designers treat electronics. Instead of writing every gate by hand, a developer describes what the algorithm should do in a high-level model, and Classiq's synthesis engine generates an optimized circuit for the chosen quantum computer, taking into account the number of qubits, gate set, and connectivity.

The company does not make hardware. Its software works with processors from IBM, IonQ, Quantinuum, Rigetti, and others, mainly through cloud services such as Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum, and Google Cloud. That neutrality is its main selling point to large corporations that do not want to tie their quantum software to a single hardware vendor.

History and background

Classiq was founded in 2020 by Nir Minerbi, Amir Naveh, and Yehuda Naveh. Minerbi and Amir Naveh are graduates of Israel's elite Talpiot program, and Yehuda Naveh, the chief technology officer, spent about two decades at IBM Research in Haifa working on automated design and quantum software. The company's co-founders have described its early product as an operating system that few customers needed yet, and said demand grew as hardware improved.

In May 2025 Classiq raised 110 million dollars in a Series C led by Entrée Capital, the largest round ever for a quantum software company, and later added funding from SoftBank, AMD Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and IonQ. Total funding passed 200 million dollars. In February 2026 it released Classiq 1.0, a production platform, and in April 2026 it introduced AI agents that build quantum programs from natural-language specifications. The company had about 143 employees in mid-2026.

How the technology works

Writing quantum algorithms at the gate level is like writing software in assembly language: slow and error-prone. Classiq's platform lets users define a function using its modeling language, called Qmod, which describes quantum operations at a higher level, such as arithmetic, state preparation, or an optimization routine. The synthesis engine then searches for a circuit that meets the user's constraints, for example the smallest number of qubits or the fewest two-qubit gates.

Classiq 1.0 added features designed to make programs safe by construction. These include enforcement that circuits are valid, automatic uncomputation of temporary qubits so that they can be reused, classical local variables, mid-circuit measurement and conditional logic at runtime, and support for GPU-based simulation. The platform also integrates with high-performance computing environments and supports hybrid workflows in which a classical computer runs most of the work.

The company claims more than 60 filed patents on core modeling and compilation methods. A caution for readers: software that reduces resource counts is valuable, but it cannot make a noisy machine fault-tolerant. The benefit of Classiq's approach grows as hardware improves, which is why the company's backers include several hardware and chip firms.

Products and platforms

Key milestones

Strengths and challenges

Strengths

• A hardware-agnostic platform that fits the multi-vendor strategy most enterprises prefer.
• Backing from leading chip, networking, and quantum hardware companies.
• Strong funding, with a leadership team that has deep software and quantum experience.
• A growing set of automation features, including AI-assisted programming.

Challenges and open questions

• Software cannot remove the limits of noisy hardware, so near-term commercial demand depends on hardware progress.
• Competing platforms from IBM (Qiskit), Microsoft, NVIDIA (CUDA-Q), and others are free or bundled.
• Revenue figures are not public, so the speed of enterprise adoption is hard to judge.
• Customers must trust a synthesis engine they do not fully control, which makes verification an important concern.

Why it matters

As quantum computers get bigger, programming them by hand becomes unrealistic, and a software layer that automates design becomes essential, just as compilers and electronic design automation tools did for classical chips. Classiq is the best-funded attempt to build that layer.

For learners, Classiq also illustrates the move from gate-level thinking to function-level thinking. Understanding what the synthesis engine does, such as turning an arithmetic function into a circuit, is a good way to connect the textbook ideas in our Learn section to real engineering.

Latest news

• Classiq and Scientek partner to accelerate quantum software adoption in Taiwan — September 2026
• Classiq introduces AI agents that build production-ready quantum programs from natural-language specifications — April 2026
• Classiq releases version 1.0 of its quantum software engineering platform — February 2026
• Classiq's total funding passes 200 million dollars with investment from AMD Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and IonQ — 2025

Frequently asked questions

This profile is written for educational purposes and summarizes public announcements, company filings, and published research. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. It is not investment advice. Check the company's official channels for the latest figures and claims.

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