Quantum startups with Nishta R. Nem

How could Quantum startups begin their business development journey?

In this session, I sit down Nishta R. Nem. Since visiting the Center for Quantum Devices at the Niels Institute in Copenhagen, I was interested in understanding the start-up ecosystem for Quantum. I reached out to Nistha, who was available to speak to us and share her experiences in business development for this developing industry.

Nishta R. Nem is an experimental physicist with a PhD in fusion energy and a secondary specialisation in quantum physics. During her career, she has designed and built many different diagnostics and hardware. After gaining the necessary technical and scientific understanding of deep tech, she now helps early-stage quantum startups as a business developer. She assists first-time founders with the development of their business plans and fundraising and also leads the Venture Lab, Quantum program at Deep Tech Lab. It is an accelerator program for early-stage companies.

2: 39 Meet Nishta Nem                                                              

5: 43 Business development journey                                   

9:06 Diana program                                                                 

11:10 Venture lab Quantum program                                    

13:30 Is a working prototype needed to support the application?                                                                           

16:05 'Founder friendly' and investment cycles               

20:47 The funding landscape: Denmark, EU and US            

24:52 Understanding founder profiles                                

28:00 Understanding a ‘call’ for applications                    

30:30 Connecting to talent                                                    

33:03 Advice to founders