Lazaridis and Fregin launch $100M quantum VC fund

Mike Lazaridis has teamed with fellow Research In Motion Ltd co-founder Doug Fregin to launch a venture capital fund in the area of quantum information science with an initial $100 million investment of their own money. Quantum Valley Investments will be based in Waterloo ON which has deep expertise in quantum and theoretical physics. The fund, which is seeking additional investors, is aimed at further developing and commercializing promising breakthroughs. In addition to investment, fund recipients will also benefit from the managing partners' deep commercialization, science, financial and business expertise. In addition to the Univ of Waterloo, the high-tech city is home to the recently opened Quantum-Nano Centre, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Waterloo Institute for Nano Technology, hence the new moniker, Quantum Valley. The fund was announced just days before Lazaridis announced that he was stepping down as director and board chair of RIM on April 1st....