Quantum Valley Investments

Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin have been close friends since grade 5.In their first venture together they built the iconic smart phone company BlackBerry (formerly known as Research In Motion) which they started from scratch in 1984 and developed into a global player in the Smart Phone market that it is today.Through Quantum Valley Investments Mike and Doug have been focusing on the commercialization of breakthrough technologies in Quantum Information Science. By doing so are continuing to further their shared vision toward the development of the “Quantum Valley” in the Waterloo Region of Canada.Mike and Doug recall the early days of BlackBerry of when they described their plan “to put a computer on everybody’s hip”. It wasn’t so much that people disagreed with the plan; it was more that they didn’t understand it. When these founders of the “Smart Phone” industry focused on commercializing breakthroughs in quantum information they smiled at the parallel. That said they both believe that they have learned a lot since the early days of BlackBerry. Also, thanks to their success with BlackBerry, they have much more resources at their disposal today than they did when they started their first business in a small office on top of a bagel shop.