CEO Interview with Nir Minerbi of Classiq

Nir Minerbi is a co-founder and the CEO of Classiq. Nir is highly experienced in leading groundbreaking, multi-national technological projects, from idea to deployment. Nir is a Talpiot alumnus and a master’s graduate in physics as well as electrical and electronics engineering (M.Sc.).

Tell us about Classiq.

Classiq is a quantum software company that’s solving one of the biggest roadblocks in the field: how to write optimized quantum programs that scale. While quantum hardware is advancing quickly, most quantum software is still being developed at the gate level, essentially hand-coded, which doesn’t scale for enterprise applications.

We built a platform that automates the design of quantum algorithms. Users describe the functionality they want, and our technology generates optimized, hardware-ready circuits. These can be compiled to run on any of the major quantum hardware platforms, so organizations can use multiple back-ends and benchmark easily.

We’re backed by leading investors including HPE Pathfinder, SoftBank Vision Fund, Samsung NEXT, and HSBC, along with several leading VCs. Our enterprise customers include global companies such as Deloitte, BMW Group, Rolls Royce, and Sumitomo. We’ve also built partnerships and collaborations with ecosystem leaders like Microsoft, NVIDIA, AWS and several others to ensure seamless access and deployment.

What problem is Classiq solving?

Today’s quantum software landscape is a bit like early computing before compilers existed, developers have to write everything manually. That’s fine for research, but it’s not feasible for businesses looking to develop production-grade quantum solutions.

We address this by providing a high-level modeling language and a synthesis engine. Users focus on what they want to compute, not how to wire up every gate. Our platform then automatically generates optimized quantum circuits, tailored to the user’s constraints and the target hardware.

This saves time, reduces errors and enables reuse of IP. Just as modern developers don’t think about individual transistors, our users don’t have to think about individual quantum gates.

Where are you seeing the most demand?

There’s strong interest in four sectors:

• Financial services: For problems like portfolio optimization, option pricing and risk simulations.
• Pharmaceuticals and chemicals: Quantum systems are uniquely suited to simulate molecular behavior, which is critical for drug discovery and materials development.
• Automotive and manufacturing: Especially for simulations and optimization use-cases.
• Aerospace: Where CFD, radar and materials are leading areas of investigation.

In all these sectors, companies are asking: which use-cases are near-term relevant or longer-term strategic, how to accelerate quantum computing activities, how to  start building quantum capabilities now without betting on a specific hardware or individual developer?

What’s driving enterprise urgency?

A lot of companies fear being left behind. They see hardware improving rapidly and know that quantum advantage is coming, maybe not tomorrow, but with the pace of recent hardware evolution, likely sooner than expected. The challenge is they can’t afford to wait until then to start learning and building.

We let them begin that journey today. Our platform allows teams to design and validate quantum algorithms now, in a way that’s portable across future hardware scenarios. As machines improve, their software investment can grow in value.

How do you stand out in a crowded quantum landscape?

Many tools are low-level, or they’re tied to specific hardware. We took a different approach: build a software layer that abstracts away low-level complexity, while remaining fully adaptable and production-focused.

We’ve developed a high-level modeling language called Qmod and a synthesis engine that goes beyond traditional compilation and generates optimized quantum circuits automatically. That means better performance, faster development, and less dependency on manual tuning.

SoftBank, Mizuho and Mitsubishi Chemical have all published results demonstrating the effectiveness of our technology, with quantum circuit compressions as high as 97%. This translates to accelerated deployment potential and dramatic reductions in the cost of computation.

And we’ve proven traction. We have a steadily growing list of enterprise customers, integrations with leading cloud and hardware providers, and a patent portfolio of over 60 filings.

What’s next for Classiq?

We’re continuing to scale. Our focus is on expanding enterprise adoption, adding new features and improvements, deepening partnerships, and supporting new quantum hardware platforms as they emerge.

We’re also investing in hybrid workflows, additional optimizations, and memory management, making sure that as quantum scales, our platform keeps enterprises one step ahead.

Ultimately, we aim to be the standard toolchain and workflow for quantum algorithm development.

Also Read:

CEO Interview with Russ Garcia with Menlo Micro

CEO Interview with Karim Beguir of InstaDeep

CEO Interview with Dr. Avi Madisetti of Mixed-Signal Devices

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