CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (July 27, 2026) — The first quantum startup with licensed technology from the University of Illinois, Photon Queue, has closed an oversubscribed $4 million seed funding round led by Playground Global, with participation from Illinois Ventures, Cerberus Capital Management, Roadrunner Venture Studios and MFV Partners. The oversubscribed round reflects strong investor demand for the company’s quantum memory technology.
A tenant of EnterpriseWorks, Photon Queue is developing quantum memory hardware designed to address one of the key challenges preventing quantum computing from scaling. Founded in 2024, Photon Queue is led by co-founders Nathan Arnold and Kelsey Ortiz, who were both in Paul Kwiat’s quantum information research group in the physics department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The team brings extensive expertise in quantum optics and hardware commercialization.
“This funding marks an important step forward for Photon Queue,” said Arnold, co-founder and CEO of Photon Queue. “We have incredible supporters and a world-class team, all with the goal of producing the efficient photonic infrastructure needed to help quantum computers scale up.”
The announcement comes alongside the upcoming release of the latest episode of the Innovations at Research Park podcast, which features a discussion with Photon Queue co-founder and CTO Kelsey Ortiz about quantum computing, quantum memories and her entrepreneurial journey. The episode is available to stream now on the Research Park Apple Podcasts and Spotify channels.
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About Research Park at the University of Illinois
Research Park at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a technology hub for startup companies and corporate research and development operations. Within Research Park there are 120 companies employing students and full-time technology professionals. More information at researchpark.illinois.edu.