# Quantum-Si Quantum-Si is an Asset Manager based in Branford, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** Branford, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Branford, CT, United States - **Founded:** 2013 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** quantum-si.com - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/quantum-si ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Quantum-Si was founded in 2013 by Jonathan Rothberg, whose earlier ventures — 454, Ion Torrent, Butterfly Network — repeatedly reshaped DNA sequencing and medical imaging. Rothberg incubated the technology inside his Guilford, Connecticut research campus before the 2021 business combination with HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. gave the business a standalone public listing. The firm's commercial strategy targets the $25 billion proteomics market (per the firm's investor materials, 2023), positioning its Platinum system as a replacement for traditional mass spectrometry workflows. The instrument pairs with cloud-based analysis software — Platinum performs a peptide-level scan, and the firm's software identifies the underlying protein — a workflow that academic researchers at UCLA and Harvard Medical School have cited in early-access studies published in Science and Nature Biotechnology. The firm also markets a library preparation kit, and its installed base of instruments generates recurring kit revenue in a razor-and-blade model. Team size is not publicly disclosed, but the firm maintains a single office and R&D site in Branford formerly part of Rothberg's 4Catalyzer incubator. In January 2024, CEO Jeff Hawkins — a long-tenured Illumina executive who joined Quantum-Si in 2022 — detailed a pivot toward commercial execution over pure R&D investment, cutting operating expenses to extend cash runway (per the firm's Q4 2023 earnings call). Hawkins previously led Illumina's global sequencing business before moving to the smaller proteomics entrant. Quantum-Si's structural differentiator is its integrated chip-plus-cloud model. Unlike Bruker or Thermo Fisher, which sell mass spectrometers and software separately and depend on centralized core labs, Quantum-Si aims to place a benchtop protein sequencer in individual PIs' labs and charge a recurring annual usage fee per instrument — a model it cannot yet prove at commercial scale. ## Sectors - Digital Health - AI/ML - Enterprise Software ## People - Jonathan Rothberg — Founder - Jeff Hawkins — Chief Executive Officer ## Questions ### Is Quantum-Si an operating company or a portfolio investment? Quantum-Si is a standalone, publicly traded operating company (Nasdaq: QSI). It is not a family office or an allocation vehicle. It went public in 2021 via a SPAC merger with HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. and sells the Platinum protein sequencing platform directly to end users. The firm generates revenue from instrument placements and associated consumable kit sales. ### How does Quantum-Si's protein sequencing technology differ from mass spectrometry? Quantum-Si's Platinum instrument uses a semiconductor chip to detect fluorescent signals from immobilized single peptides, then computationally reconstructs the amino acid sequence and any post-translational modifications. Traditional mass spectrometry ionizes a protein, fragments it, and measures mass-to-charge ratios — a workflow that requires larger sample volumes, centralized core facilities, and expert operators. Quantum-Si claims single-molecule sensitivity and a benchtop form factor that allows individual biology labs to decouple from core-facility scheduling bottlenecks. ### Who is the founder and what else has he built? Jonathan Rothberg founded Quantum-Si in 2013. He previously founded 454 Life Sciences, which developed the first massively parallel DNA sequencer and was sold to Roche in 2007. He then founded Ion Torrent, a semiconductor-based DNA sequencing firm sold to Life Technologies (later Thermo Fisher) in 2010. He later spun out Butterfly Network, which makes a handheld ultrasound-on-a-chip device that went public in 2021. His 4Catalyzer incubator in Guilford, Connecticut has incubated each of these ventures. ### What is the firm's revenue or installed base? The firm has not disclosed a precise installed base count — it reports instrument placements and consumables revenue quarterly as a public company. In its Q1 2024 earnings filing, the firm disclosed total revenue of $0.3 million for the quarter, reflecting early-stage commercial adoption with the shift from pre-launch collaborations to paid placements beginning in mid-2023. ### What is Quantum-Si's relationship to Illumina? Quantum-Si has no corporate affiliation with Illumina. The connection is operational and executive — CEO Jeff Hawkins joined Quantum-Si in 2022 after a long career at Illumina, where he led the firm's global sequencing and microarray business, including product management for the NovaSeq and NextSeq platforms. His hiring signal a focus on instrument commercialization and competitive positioning against legacy proteomics incumbents. ## Related profiles - [ArrowMark Financial Corp.](https://altss.com/profile/arrowmark-financial-corp) - [Elicio Therapeutics](https://altss.com/profile/elicio-therapeutics-inc) --- Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/quantum-si-inc Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology