TechCrunch Desktop Logo TechCrunch Mobile Logo LatestStartupsVentureAppleSecurityAIAppsDisrupt 2026 EventsPodcastsNewsletters SearchSubmit Site Search Toggle Mega Menu Toggle Topics Latest AI Amazon Apps Biotech & Health Climate Cloud Computing Commerce Crypto Enterprise EVs Fintech Fundraising Gadgets Gaming Google Government & Policy Hardware Instagram Layoffs Media & Entertainment Meta Microsoft Privacy Robotics Security Social Space Startups TikTok Transportation Venture More from TechCrunch Staff Events Startup Battlefield StrictlyVC Newsletters Podcasts Videos Partner Content TechCrunch Brand Studio Contact Us Image Credits:Matthias Balk/picture alliance via / AI Peter Sarlin’s QuTwo reaches $380M valuation in angel round Anna Heim 11:47 PM PDT · May 5, 2026 QuTwo, the Finnish AI lab founded by former AMD Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin, is now valued at €325 million (approximately $380 million) after raising a €25 million ($29 million) angel round. It’s a sign of enduring tailwinds for AI, quantum computing, and sovereign tech, especially for Europe-made companies. QuTwo’s name is a nod to quantum computing, but it hasn’t gone all in on quantum.
Its core product, QuTwo OS, is an orchestration layer that directs tasks to classical, quantum, or hybrid architectures — with the idea that enterprise use cases are often best served by “quantum-inspired” computing, which uses classical chips to simulate quantum behavior on more reliable hardware. Enterprise AI will be QuTwo’s bread and butter. The company already secured some $23 million in committed revenue thanks to design partnerships with the likes of retail giant Zalando, for which it helped develop AI assistants.
Quantum is just a new type of compute,” said Sarlin, who is adamant that QuTwo is an AI company. Momentum has been building around Europe-based AI labs, and several of them have become overnight unicorns. Just last week, former DeepMind researcher David Silver secured $1.1 billion for his new endeavor, Ineffable Intelligence.
QuTwo’s valuation and round size are somewhat modest in comparison but will let it pursue its roadmap under less pressure. According to Sarlin, who serves as QuTwo’s executive chairman, this was a decision he also made for his previous company, Silo AI, which AMD acquired for $665 million in 2024. The main difference is that QuTwo wants the freedom to think long term, with a five- to 10-year horizon.
It’s not that Sarlin is bearish on European AI, of which he is a prolific backer. Nor is he necessarily critical of extra-large rounds — he volunteered that he is also an investor in Yann LeCun’s Ami Labs, which raised $1.03 billion, and in British American venture Recursive Superintelligence, which is rumored to be following the same path. But he didn’t see a billion-dollar round as the right fit for QuTwo — nor VC money, at least for now. var playerInstance_jwplayer_6a7d17217034c = jwplayer( "jwplayer_6a7d17217034c" ); playerInstance_jwplayer_6a7d17217034c.setup(); Until recently, QuTwo was solely funded through Sarlin’s family office, PostScriptum, which also incubated NestAI, the other company where he serves as executive chairman.
But whereas NestAI raised some $115 million in a funding round led by Finland’s sovereign fund and Nokia, QuTwo wasn’t seeking to raise external funding. However, when the lab’s soft launch generated significant interest earlier this year, Sarlin decided he would say no to checks from VCs and strategic investors, but yes to an angel round in part due to the geopolitical moment Europe is currently navigating. With Europe increasingly looking to favor local alternatives to U.S. tech providers, there are tailwinds for AI made in Finland.
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