Quantum Dice Wins £1.8m EIC Grant to Commercialise Its ORBIT Probabilistic Computing Platform

Quantum Dice, the University of Oxford spin-out working at the intersection of quantum photonics and probabilistic computing, has secured a £1.8 million (€2 million) grant from the European Innovation Council Accelerator programme — part of the EU's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme. The company was chosen from more than 1,000 applicants and is one of only 40 deep-tech startups across Europe to receive the funding, and one of just three UK companies in this cohort. The project officially kicked off in October 2025, with the grant now accelerating Quantum Dice's path to commercial deployment of its probabilistic computing platform.

Modern computing faces a structural challenge: the most commercially important problem classes — complex combinatorial optimisation in logistics and supply chains, probabilistic financial modelling, next-generation AI inference, and telecommunications network management — are computationally expensive and energy-intensive on conventional hardware. As AI workloads scale, this energy burden is becoming a material constraint for industry. Fully quantum systems, while theoretically powerful, still require extreme operating conditions like cryogenic cooling that make them impractical for near-term commercial deployment. There is a gap in the market for hardware that brings the efficiency benefits of probabilistic computation without those operational barriers.

Quantum Dice's ORBIT probabilistic processor is designed to fill that gap. Rather than operating at absolute zero, ORBIT runs at room temperature and integrates with current semiconductor infrastructure. Its core innovation is the use of probabilistic bits, or p-bits, which differ from classical bits in that they fluctuate between 0 and 1 states with controllable probability. This native randomness — generated by Quantum Dice's patented high-speed self-correcting quantum photonic sources of entropy — is what allows the system to execute probabilistic algorithms orders of magnitude faster and more energy efficiently than conventional electronic approaches for specific problem classes. The company's first-generation system, the Lagrange 0, is built on ORBIT and represents its initial commercial offering.

The traction behind the EIC application is notable. Earlier in 2025, Quantum Dice was named a winner of the World Economic Forum's Quantum for Society Challenge via its UpLink initiative, which highlights quantum technology projects with genuine societal and industrial benefit. The company also partnered with the STFC Hartree Centre, combining Quantum Dice's ORBIT technology with the Centre's expertise in AI and high-performance computing to explore industrial deployment pathways. These milestones demonstrate that the platform is moving beyond academic validation toward real-world use cases.

The EIC grant provides not only funding but also access to the EIC's network of corporates, investors and business support — a meaningful advantage for a deep-tech hardware company navigating long sales cycles and complex enterprise procurement. Quantum Dice's CEO Dr Ramy Shelbaya has indicated that the medium-term objectives include delivering a commercially ready probabilistic processing unit based on the ORBIT architecture, building a developer and user network, and expanding awareness of probabilistic computing as a distinct and viable paradigm for tackling industrial optimisation and AI workloads at scale.

Sources

• Soapbox VC – Quantum Dice secures £1.8m grant from the EIC
• IP Group / Quantum Dice – EIC Accelerator backs Quantum Dice with €2m grant
• Tech Funding News – Oxford spinout Quantum Dice lands €2M
• The Quantum Insider – Quantum Dice Secures €2m From European Innovation Council