Quantum computing startup Extropic has raised $14.1 million in seed funding to build physics-based AI computers.

The startup was founded last year by former members of Alphabet’s quantum computing research team, including CEO Guillaume Verdon and CTO Trevor McCourt.

Extropic plans to build computers that allow generative AI to scale in an efficient way, “circumventing the need to massively scale energy production” through the use of thermodynamics.

According to Verdon, the hardware assembly process has already begun.

The funding round was led by Kindred Investments, with additional investments from HOF Capital, Julian Capital, Marque VC, OSS Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and Weekend Fund.

“We are grateful to have such a broad base of investors committed to advancing the frontiers of computing. We look forward to accelerating the advent of our computational paradigm with this Seed capital,” wrote Verdon in a blog post on the company’s website.

"As the timelines to scalability for quantum physics-based computers grew endlessly longer and longer, many of our team sought a different path to practical physics-based computing."

X, formally known as Google X and X Development (and not to be confused with a recently rebranded social media platform), was launched in 2010 to develop “moonshot” technologies that can improve the state of the world, giving birth to projects such as Google Glass and Waymo.

Verdon and McCourt were both also involved with Google’s TensorFlow Quantum project at the University of Waterloo before joining Google Quantum AI, a research team dedicated to advancing the state of quantum computing through the development of software and hardware.