We’re excited to welcome Sophie (Weiyi) Ding to CavilinQ as our Founding Engineer, leading the photonics effort. Sophie joined the team earlier this year and brings deep expertise in photonics and quantum hardware. She completed her undergraduate studies at Caltech and earned her PhD from Harvard University under Prof. Marko Lončar, where she developed some of the highest quality-factor cavities demonstrated in diamond, along with novel photonic architectures. Her work also i

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. [April 2, 2026]  — CavilinQ, a quantum hardware startup, today announced it has raised $8.8 million in seed funding to develop the interconnect hardware necessary to scale quantum computers beyond today’s single-processor limits. The round was led by QVT, with participation from Safar Partners, MFV Partners, Serendipity Capital, and Harper Court Ventures. The quantum industry has reached exciting milestones by performing verifiable calculations that challenge

CavilinQ’s CTO and Co-Founder, Brandon Grinkemeyer, has been named a Chain Reaction Innovations Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. This two-year fellowship will give CavilinQ access to world-class research facilities and business resources to advance our quantum-grade microcavity technology toward market readiness.

CavilinQ has been awarded the prestigious Harvard Grid Accelerator Fellowship, joining a select group of science-driven ventures tackling global challenges. The fellowship will provide funding, mentorship, and access to Harvard’s innovation network to accelerate the commercialization of our high-finesse microcavity technology for quantum applications.

CavilinQ CEO and Co-Founder, Shankar Menon, has been awarded the George Shultz Innovation Fund from the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center. The award supports Shankar’s work in scaling CavilinQ’s proprietary quantum hardware technology and building the bridge from lab innovation to global deployment.