He is Argentine and founded the first quantum technology startup in Latam: aiming to generate $5M in revenue by 2025.

Published in iProUp

Its name is /q99, and it enables any company to become "hypersmart" thanks to the development of a powerful "engine." Details of its creation.

The quest for faster and smarter answers to any challenge is a common issue faced by companies of all sizes around the world.

Aware of this situation, Facundo Diaz decided to take action and develop a product that enables each company to have its own unimaginable "superintelligence."

Diaz, CEO and founder of /q99, shares with iProUP the creation process of /q99, enthusiastically highlights its potential reach, and predicts a promising future for his project.

"I am a tech entrepreneur. I developed my career as a technology consultant at Accenture for many years, and I have seen how technology can change and improve our lives over the last 25 years," begins Diaz.

"So I decided to get involved and do something with it. I believe that those who dare to think and develop solutions leveraging technology's potential are the ones who can truly create an impact, and that is what /q99 aims to do," he adds.

Diaz emphasizes that the idea gained more traction as he observed how "AI was evolving by leaps and bounds" and how this progress could be combined with the development of quantum computing.

He is Argentine and created the first quantum technology startup in Latin America.

For Diaz, although this technology can already be used, "in the short to medium term, it will be completely transformational in its convergence with AI." "That's where I decided to start shaping /q99," he highlights.

"I have a lot of passion and motivation for all this potential that exists. I truly believe that in the next 5 to 10 years, the changes will be unimaginable, not just disruptive but truly transformational. That's why I decided to leave the operation of Travel-X and fully dedicate myself to building and shaping /q99," he adds.

The firm /q99 is now composed of an interdisciplinary team. "It's a project that I started personally, bringing in people I consider 'cracks' in their areas. However, we are not what I would consider a typical tech startup engineering team," he details.

To try to combine quantum computing with artificial intelligence, a mix of profiles that don't usually work together is needed.

In addition to engineers, programmers, developers, and data scientists, we also have mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and people more focused on scientific research. They are used to working differently, with different deadlines and focuses, but we are all united by the potential we have as a company.

"While it is challenging to work with such diverse profiles, it is also very enriching. I am sure it is the way forward. Quantum computing involves diving into new computational paradigms, which also requires different skills and ways of thinking. That's how the /q99 team was born and is evolving," he concludes.

What does /q99 do and what are its differentiators?

With /q99, Diaz created "an engine that allows any company or project to connect internal data while adding external data to AI models and enhance them with the power of quantum computing to make these companies HyperSmart or hyper-intelligent."

"The traditional software industry works with predefined outcomes, and any modern management software today takes company data, establishes processes, and the results are predefined by these management software systems," he emphasizes.

"With the arrival of AI and the power of quantum computing, that paradigm is completely obsolete," Diaz continues.

He highlights, "We offer to make all available data flow and turn companies into intelligent entities, where results are not limited by predefined processes. Companies become autonomously intelligent to find the best solutions and carry out processes more efficiently."

Diaz points out that "in companies, 80% to 90% of data is not used," and underscores that "/q99 has created an engine that can process all these volumes of data that a traditional computer could not handle."

"Our engine reads that information, organizes it, keeps it alive and accessible, so it is interconnected and constantly feeding AI models," he adds.

What /q99 is and What it Resembles

Diaz explains that /q99 essentially emulates a brain: "A clear example is a law student who studies for years, as if they were going to practice law with all the books they studied."

"However, each time they need to solve something, they will look up those articles in each book, with each client, in each case, and so on. Companies work this way. They have all their data in a library, and every time they need something, they send a query and search for it," he points out.

"Our engine breaks that paradigm, making companies hyper-intelligent," he highlights.

"We have integrations with AI models which, in addition to adding computational power that is not possible today with binary technology, also add probabilistic models to the equation, making the AI act hyper-intelligently as well, with an almost unlimited capacity to process data," he emphasizes.

Initial Investment and Estimated Revenue

Diaz recalls that "the initial investment was approximately $500,000, funded with our own resources."

"The most important thing is that it was created with a bootstrapping vision. It didn't start relying on capital investments but focused on creating a model with a completely revolutionary value proposition in certain aspects and achieving market fit by testing it with clients," he notes.

"It started with our own funds, but also with a real, sustainable, and scalable business from day one. So it's essentially without external investment and with a product that the market values and pays for," he highlights.

The company estimates that its first year will close with a revenue close to $1 million.

Diaz clarifies that "most of this revenue does not come from projects but from the licenses our clients pay for using the engine. This will allow us to scale very quickly in the coming years."

"We estimate that revenue in 2025 will be between $5 million and $8 million, following projections and if our model continues to validate as it has been," Diaz comments.

About the Business Model and Next Steps

"What we propose is to give companies the opportunity to connect their data to our engine and from there start managing that data, generating solutions, improving their processes, their service channels, etc.," emphasizes Diaz.

He adds that /q99's goal is to "revolutionize the way they operate through the hyperintelligence we can create with the integration of quantum computing and AI."

"Basically, what we charge companies is a setup fee for the implementation of this engine and the connection of the data, and once that's done, a monthly license," he explains.

He adds: "Its application has no limits. Once they integrate that engine, it can be used for financial processes, business processes, virtual service assistants, dynamic pricing generators, whatever they can think of. Companies start developing freely on our engine."

"So, basically, the business model is a setup cost, implementation in each company, and then a license for maintenance and use of that engine," he clarifies.

After bootstrapping, having clients and relevant revenue, and market validation of our value proposition, it is possible that in the coming months we will carry out a funding round. "That can accelerate us to grow globally and continue evolving our product in these integrations with AI models and quantum computers. From what we are discussing, it would be quite relevant," he emphasizes.

How Does the Roadmap Continue and What Are the Next Steps for /q99?

Diaz explains that until now, "what we have done is the first effort: build the solution and integrate it, fuse AI with Quantum Computing, which was a great challenge."

"Now we are running this engine in Latin American clients. That's what we've been doing in the first half of this year, and it is working very well," he adds.

"For the rest of the year, we are actually doing this with medium and small clients. What remains for the year are basically two challenges: The first, starting to work with large clients, with large banks, with large laboratories, some energy companies as well, which implies another dimension of project and use of our engine, but it would also bring a great impact on the business," he emphasizes.

If everything continues this way, Diaz points out, we will start setting foot in other countries outside the region, the United States, Europe, and Asia.

"In 2024, the goal was to build the solution, the fusion of technologies, and start working with clients in LATAM. What is coming for the next year is global expansion. We are approximately 20 people, but we estimate that we will end the year being between 100 and 125 people," he concludes.