# Richard Givhan

> Richard Givhan is the co-founder and CEO of Haiqu, a quantum software company building a hardware-aware operating system that squeezes useful results out of today's noisy, qubit-starved quantum computers. A Stanford-trained engineering physicist who once chased dark matter at the Kavli Institute, Givhan now bets on the unglamorous middleware layer - circuit optimization, error shielding, and orchestration - to make near-term quantum applications run at roughly 100x lower compute cost. Incubated in 2022 inside Toronto's Creative Destruction Lab Quantum stream, Haiqu has raised about $19 million to date, including an $11 million seed round in January 2026 led by Primary Venture Partners.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Haiqu
- **Organizations:** Haiqu, Creative Destruction Lab, Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Engineering Physics / Applied Physics, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Haiqu, a quantum software company incubated in the Creative Destruction Lab Quantum stream, Raised approximately $19 million in total funding for Haiqu, including an $11M seed round in January 2026, Built a distributed team spanning the US, Ukraine, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland

## Career timeline

- **2016-2017** — Engineering Intern at COMEX S.A.
- **Undergrad** — Undergraduate Researcher at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford
- **2021-2022** — Entrepreneur in Residence, Space Enabled Mobility Systems, Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America
- **2022-2023** — Founder in the Quantum Stream at Creative Destruction Lab (Toronto)
- **2022** — Co-founded Haiqu and became CEO
- **2023** — Haiqu raises $4M pre-seed to boost adoption of near-term quantum computing
- **2026** — Haiqu raises $11M seed round led by Primary Venture Partners

## Achievements

- Co-founded Haiqu, a quantum software company incubated in the Creative Destruction Lab Quantum stream
- Raised approximately $19 million in total funding for Haiqu, including an $11M seed round in January 2026
- Built a distributed team spanning the US, Ukraine, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland
- Developed a hardware-aware quantum operating system targeting roughly 100x lower computational cost for near-term applications

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Haiqu announced an $11 million seed round led by Primary Venture Partners to enable near-term quantum use-cases with a new operating system.

## Links

- Website: https://haiqu.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-givhan/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/richard-givhan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21