Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero is one of the clearest examples of what happens when deep physics research meets deliberate company building. As the Founder and CEO of Nu Quantum, she is working on one of the most technically demanding problems in quantum computing, how to connect separate quantum processors so they behave as one unified system. Her work on quantum networking is directly shaping how the industry approaches commercial scale.
Her academic foundation is serious. Carmen completed her undergraduate degree at Imperial College London, then earned her PhD in physics at the University of Cambridge, where Nu Quantum was later born out of the Cavendish Laboratory in 2018. She has authored multiple high-impact research papers and a book based on her doctoral work.
The Problem She is Solving:
Most quantum computers today operate in isolation. Current processors function with hundreds of qubits, while solving real challenges in chemistry, logistics, or drug discovery requires millions. The bottleneck is not raw computing power, it is the inability to link processors together and scale. In June 2025, Nu Quantum released the world’s first rack-mounted, modular Quantum Networking Unit or QNU, which brokers entanglement links between multiple quantum processors so they operate coherently as one, more powerful computer. Developed under the UK Government’s Small Business Research Initiative and integrated with CERN’s White Rabbit technology, it delivers scalable, sub-nanosecond entanglement across multiple processors.
Funding and Credibility:
In December 2025, Nu Quantum closed a $60M Series A, the largest quantum Series A in the UK to date, led by National Grid Partners alongside Gresham House Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, and IQ Capital. Carmen also serves on the Technical Advisory Board of the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre and is Co-Founder and Director of UKQuantum, the UK’s quantum industry group. Throughout her career she has led pro-equality visibility initiatives in STEM, giving visibility to a field that is still building its pipeline of talent.
More profiles like hers are in the TECHnicalBeep Women in Tech section.
