QAI Ventures

CEO and General Partner Alexandra Beckstein leads the firm alongside General Partners Michael A. Jackson and Axel Thierauf, both of whom sit on the Investment Committee. Jackson brings venture-building experience across multiple continents, while Thierauf holds a PhD in physics and oversees technical evaluation. The three-partner structure concentrates decision-making among a small group with direct quantum and deep-tech operational backgrounds.

The firm runs accelerator programs in Switzerland, Singapore, and Calgary, which function as a top-of-funnel screening mechanism for early-stage companies emerging from university labs and research ecosystems. It supplements this with proprietary sourcing of growth-stage companies that it describes as undervalued or overlooked before competitive institutional rounds. The dual model—accelerator plus direct fund sourcing—gives QAI Ventures access to both pre-seed and Series A-plus opportunities.

QAI Ventures operates as a specialist venture capital firm. It was born out of uptownBasel, a privately funded Swiss initiative, but it functions as an independent asset manager raising external funds rather than managing a single family’s capital. The firm runs both an early-stage fund and a planned growth-stage vehicle, and its website invites external limited partners.

QAI Ventures invests directly into companies across the advanced computing stack rather than making fund commitments to other managers. Its model is built on direct equity positions—backing pre-seed and seed-stage companies through Fund I and planning concentrated growth-stage investments through Fund II. There is no indication of fund-of-funds activity.

The firm invests from pre-seed through Series C. Its early-stage fund backs companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, often originating from its own accelerator programs. The growth-stage strategy, currently being built through a second fund, targets companies with strong commercial traction and validated technology that have reached Series A and beyond.

QAI Ventures does not publish a formal exclusion list, but its mandate is tightly constrained to the advanced computing value chain. It does not invest in consumer internet, traditional enterprise SaaS, fintech, or life sciences unless a company’s core technology is quantum hardware, quantum sensing, quantum communications, advanced AI, or compute infrastructure. The firm's sector focus is defined by inclusion—the computing stack—rather than stated avoidance.

QAI Ventures was born out of uptownBasel, a privately funded Swiss initiative. The firm describes uptownBasel as its originating sponsor, and the relationship appears to have provided the initial capital and institutional backing to launch a dedicated quantum and advanced computing venture platform. QAI Ventures now operates as a standalone entity with its own team, funds, and global offices.