29‑year‑old Nature first‑author Qiaomu linked to a quantum computing startup

29-year-old Nature first-author JoMu reportedly launches quantum computing startup

A new, formidable team has emerged on the blazing quantum computing track.

Quantum Bit exclusively learned that a company called FlipFlop’s expansion, whose startup direction targets neutral‑atom quantum computing.

According to Qichacha, the company was founded on July 2 of this year. We learned that in just over a month since its establishment, Tuoyuan has already completed two rounds of financing, with a total amount reaching several hundred million RMB.

The founding team of this company has quite a pedigree.

CEO Qiao Mu, PhD from Tsinghua University, postdoctoral researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), has conducted research at a world‑leading neutral‑atom laboratory. He is a co‑founder and was also the head of neutral‑atom quantum computing at an industry giant.

Last year, Qiao Mu, as first author and corresponding author, published a study in *Nature* on using Rydberg atom arrays to investigate doped quantum antiferromagnets.

In addition, Qiao Mu also published work in *Nature Physics* as first author and co‑corresponding author, which is his flagship Ph.D. contribution; in 2022, he was a co‑author on a paper in *Science Advances*.

It’s worth mentioning that, last year, Qiaomu began looking for academic positions in China and received offers, including an AP position in the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University.

But he ultimately chose to start his own business.

VC quickly follows up.

Industry insiders close to Tuoyuan told us that after only two months since its founding, Tuoyuan completed seed and angel rounds of financing, with investors including Source Code, Oasis, CICC and other top active VCs.

Who is Qiaomu?

Qiaomu, born in 1996Bachelor’s degreeStudied Environmental Science at Shandong University.

In 2017, he entered the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information at Tsinghua University to pursue Ph.D. degree, under the supervision of Professor Jin Qihuan.

Kihwan Kim(Kihwan Kim) is an internationally renowned expert in trapped‑ion quantum computing experiments, having completed postdoctoral research in the two leading ion‑trap groups——Rainer Blatt’s group at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Chris Monroe’s group at the University of Maryland, USA——.

In 2011, Jin Qihuan joined Tsinghua Interdisciplinary Information Research Institute (Quantum Information Center, later part of the Department of Physics), was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor and independent PI, and built a world‑leading ytterbium ion trap experimental platform at Tsinghua.

As the advisor moved to the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, Qiaomu’s research gradually (around 2022) shifted from the ion‑trap quantum computing field to the neutral‑atom approach.

During the PhD stage, Qiaomu participated in research related to two-dimensional ionic crystals.

After that, he went to the French Institute of Optics（Institut d’Optique）, joined Antoine Browaeys’ group forpostdoctoral research, further studying Rydberg atom optical tweezer arrays and strongly correlated quantum systems.

In 2024, as first author and co‑corresponding author, he published a paper in Nature Physics demonstrating a tunable quantum spin‑model simulation using a two‑dimensional ion crystal, providing experimental validation for 2D ion crystals as a quantum simulation platform.

In addition to having conducted cutting‑edge experimental research on two quantum computing technology routes, Qiaomuhas also had industry work experience.

In 2020, Qiaomu worked as an investment intern at Source Code Capital.

In 2023, he joined DeepTalk Technology as co‑founder and CSO, taking part in market and technology assessments, compute resource procurement, and communications with IDC and cloud providers, and was involved in kilowatt‑hour cluster construction work.

AI is also one of the motivations for entrepreneurship.

Qiaomu’s research on neutral atom quantum computing is one of the technical routes in the quantum computing field that continues to attract attention.

Its basic concept is to use lasers and optical tweezers to capture and arrange atoms, then achieve quantum control through precise manipulation. Atomic arrays have the potential to scale up, but moving from experimental platforms to practical quantum computers still requires solving several challenges.

An investor involved in funding Tuoyuan told us,Tuoyuan chose to design the whole-machine architecture based on the need for fault‑tolerant computing, and made the hundred‑logic‑bit system a key R&D goal.

And AI is another thread in Qiaomu’s entrepreneurial experience.

It is reported that during his research in France, Qiaomu attempted to develop an autonomous research agent, hoping AI could handle literature review, computational experiment design, data analysis and other tasks around scientific questions.

As model capabilities continue to improve rapidly, he began to focus on the possibility of AI participating in complex research tasks and further considered how to integrate AI into real physical experiments.

Tuoyuan hopes to adopt an AI-native development approach, gradually integrating AI into experimental design, data processing, and equipment control stages.

Reference links:
[1]https://www.linkedin.com/in/muqiaophys/?isSelfProfile=false
[2]https://info.phys.tsinghua.edu.cn/kimkihwan/index.html