If there is one image that captures the sheer complexity of quantum computing, it is perhaps this: Google’s quantum computer operates at temperatures close to -273°C—colder than outer space itself. Layer upon layer of refrigeration technology is needed merely to keep it alive before it can perform computations.
Now imagine a quantum computer that sits comfortably at room temperature in Bengaluru.
That is not merely a technological distinction. It is an entirely different philosophy of building the future.
Quanfluence, a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup, is quietly attempting something that few would have imagined India doing at this stage of the global quantum race—building commercial quantum computers that customers are already paying to use. While the world’s biggest technology companies are spending billions of dollars pursuing different quantum architectures, Quanfluence has placed its bet on photonics, an approach that uses laser light for computation without requiring cryogenic temperatures or highly specialized infrastructure.
More importantly, it has already found paying customers.
Behind this remarkable story is an unlikely founding team that took an unusual route to quantum computing.
Sujoy Chakravarty, Ravi Mehta and Biman Chattopadhyay spent over a decade together at Texas Instruments, building distinguished careers in semiconductor engineering and chip design. In 2012, they left comfortable corporate careers to establish Silicon and Beyond, a high-speed semiconductor intellectual property company that went on to become successful enough to be acquired by Synopsys in 2018, one of the world’s largest electronic design automation giants.
Most successful founders exiting a semiconductor company would have returned to industry or become investors. These three did something else—they went back to becoming students.
For nearly six months following the Synopsys acquisition, they immersed themselves in understanding every major quantum computing approach being pursued across the world. They studied superconducting qubits being developed by technology giants like Google and IBM, ion-trap systems, and emerging photonic architectures.
The more they studied, the clearer their choice became.
Superconducting quantum computers demand temperatures approaching absolute zero and require extraordinarily sophisticated cryogenic infrastructure—an ecosystem India is only beginning to build. Ion-trap systems need extreme vacuum environments. Photonic quantum computing, on the other hand, operates at room temperature and relies significantly on telecom-grade optical components that India’s existing manufacturing ecosystem already understands.
For the founders, this was not merely a technological choice—it was a strategic one. If India was to build quantum computers that could eventually scale globally, they had to play to the country’s strengths rather than imitate someone else’s playbook.
They soon brought together two distinguished academics working precisely at this intersection of science and engineering. Professor Anil Prabhakar of IIT Madras had been researching the Optical Ising Machine concept that would eventually become Quanfluence’s core technology. Professor Sandeep Goyal of IISER Mohali contributed the quantum information theory underpinning the platform. Completing the six-member founding team was Aditi Vaidya, a former Arista Networks product manager who joined as Chief Product Officer.
The result is a quantum computing platform unlike many of its global peers.
Instead of using single photons as qubits—a popular approach pursued by several photonic quantum computing companies—Quanfluence uses the electric field generated by collections of photons. This makes the system more reliable to generate while offering significantly better prospects for scalability.
Its Optical Ising Machine currently handles 128 interconnected variables for solving complex optimization problems, while its next-generation platform, already under development, targets millions of permutations. Today, eight companies are paying approximately $2,000 per month to access the platform through the cloud. The startup generated nearly $400,000 in revenue in 2024 and has raised $2 million in seed funding.
In the context of India’s startup ecosystem, these numbers may appear modest compared to consumer internet unicorns. In deep technology, however, paying customers matter far more than lofty valuations. Commercial adoption validates both the science and the business model.
Remarkably, Quanfluence is among only two companies in India building commercial quantum computers.
Its larger significance perhaps lies elsewhere. For decades, India has been viewed largely as a consumer or services hub for global technologies developed elsewhere. Semiconductor design changed that narrative. Space technology is beginning to change it further. Quantum computing could become the next frontier.
To be sure, not all quantum computers are designed for the same purpose. Quanfluence’s Quantum Information Machine (QIM) has been built for combinatorial optimization problems and offers the significant advantage of operating at room temperature. Universal quantum computers based on cryogenic architectures have a much wider range of applications and are better suited for highly intensive computing tasks. Rather than competing with them, QIM represents a different technological approach—one that prioritizes practicality, accessibility and commercial deployment.
Three chip designers who successfully built and sold a semiconductor company came back asking a question nobody expected: Can India build a quantum computer that the world will pay to use?
The answer, at least for now, appears to be yes—and it is being written not in Silicon Valley, but in Bengaluru.
