Four startups have officially joined CO.LAB Q, a Chattanooga-based 12-month commercialization studio built to turn quantum computing research into paying customers. CO.LAB announced the founding teams for its inaugural CO.LAB Q accelerator, each tackling a different piece of the quantum puzzle, from securing the power grid to making the technology itself usable for ordinary businesses.
CO.LAB Q was first announced in August and began its first cohort this month, according to Teknovation.biz. The program is designed to move quantum startups and research teams toward customer validation, pilot readiness and investment, offering what CO.LAB describes as a 12-month, evidence-driven program. Each participating company receives an individualized commercialization roadmap connecting its technology to quantum infrastructure, experts, customers, pilot opportunities and capital, per Teknovation.biz.
Four Teams, Four Different Bets on Quantum's Future
The cohort includes Ridge Quantum, which commercializes ORNL-licensed continuous-variable quantum key distribution built on telecom-oriented components, with technology aimed at utilities, critical infrastructure, defense and enterprise security teams, according to the same report. Over the next year, the company will validate deployment on EPB's fiber and quantum network and define an operational security use case, the outlet reports.
SuperQuantum is building software for fault-tolerant quantum resource estimation, optimization, orchestration and execution, serving quantum hardware makers, platform providers and application developers. The company plans to benchmark its compiler and execution tools across hardware and develop a commercial path to platform users, per Teknovation.biz's account of the cohort.
Esoteriq is developing Rune, software that estimates the cost of encoding real-world data for quantum computers and evaluates whether a given dataset is viable for quantum execution. The company will test workload feasibility on quantum hardware using representative customer data and work to secure a design partner, the report notes.
Kottackal rounds out the cohort with a secure sensing and intelligence platform combining quantum and classical sensors, secure networking, data fusion and AI, aimed at energy and battery operators, industrial infrastructure and defense. The team will work toward an asset-monitoring pilot with regional energy and industrial partners, according to the same source.
Bridging the Gap Between Breakthrough and Customer
CO.LAB CEO Tasia Malakasis said the four teams address securing the grid, monitoring critical assets and making quantum computing usable, as reported by Teknovation.biz. She said quantum companies can stall between a scientific breakthrough and a paying customer, and that CO.LAB will connect the teams with infrastructure, partners and customers to establish commercial proof over the next twelve months.
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said the accelerator will connect quantum startups with infrastructure, expertise and real-world opportunities to test and scale solutions, helping create skilled jobs and new investment in Chattanooga, per the outlet's report. Cohort companies will also be connected with potential customers across the Tennessee Valley Authority and regional energy, mobility and defense industries, the report states.
A Growing List of Founding Partners
CO.LAB Q's founding partners include Quantinuum, EPB, Davidson Technologies and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. As CO.LAB Q's founding compute partner, Quantinuum will give participating startups access to its high-performance trapped-ion quantum computers, Nexus cloud platform, Guppy quantum programming language, simulation tools and technical expertise, according to The Quantum Insider.
EPB serves as founding network partner, providing access to a photonics-based local quantum network through its Quantum Center, per CO.LAB's program page. Davidson Technologies is the founding defense track sponsor, offering access to its quantum laboratory and defense-focused mentoring, while UTC will connect participating companies with quantum faculty, students and specialized facilities, the organization says. Classiq contributes quantum software design expertise and Quantum Machines contributes control-system expertise to the cohort, per Teknovation.biz.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory also plays a role, providing access to researchers and specialized hardware. CO.LAB's 2026 memorandum of understanding with ORNL further strengthens pathways for entrepreneurs to access technologies, researchers and specialized facilities, The Quantum Insider reports. Under the agreement, ORNL says it will collaborate with CO.LAB to accelerate commercialization of laboratory technologies in quantum, energy and transportation while expanding resources available to entrepreneurs in those sectors.
Part of a Bigger Regional Quantum Push
The accelerator lands amid a broader buildout of Chattanooga's quantum ecosystem. The EPB Quantum Center is billed as the nation's first facility to provide commercial access to both a trapped-ion quantum computer and a photonics-based local quantum network, according to Vanderbilt University, which notes that EPB's quantum investments are expected to generate approximately $1 billion in value for the local community between 2026 and 2035.
Vanderbilt and EPB also launched the Institute for Quantum Innovation and a quantum campus in Chattanooga over the summer, an event that drew more than 80 government, business, academic and innovation leaders from across the region, per Vanderbilt's announcement. Workforce development has moved in parallel: the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative's first Quantum Ready Pre-Apprenticeship graduated 17 professionals from 16 Tennessee employers in October, according to the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative. That 12-week program had expanded from a planned 10-person pilot after attracting nearly 80 applicants from across the country, the collaborative reported earlier this year.
The stakes extend beyond Chattanooga. A report by UTC finance and economics department head Bento Lobo found that Q-Day, when quantum computers could break typical encryption, could arrive as soon as 2030, according to GovTech. The outlet also reports that the quantum computing and sensing industries generated more than $1.4 billion in revenue in 2024, and that McKinsey has estimated the sector could be worth between $28 billion and $72 billion by 2035.
