QT Sense
Advancing disease diagnostics through quantum sensing at a single-cell level.
Website: https://www.qtsense.com
Cover Block
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | QT Sense |
| Tagline | Advancing disease diagnostics through quantum sensing at a single-cell level |
| Headquarters | Groningen, Netherlands |
| Founded | 2024 |
| Stage | Seed |
| Business Model | B2B |
| Industry | Healthtech / Diagnostic Equipment |
| Technology Type | Quantum sensing (nanodiamond-based) |
| Geography | Western Europe |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Funding Label | Seed |
| Total Disclosed | ~$10.8M |
Links
- Website: https://qtsense.com
- LinkedIn (founder Romana Schirhagl): https://nl.linkedin.com/in/romana-schirhagl-5898aba0
- PitchBook profile: https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/720697-60
- Dealroom profile: https://app.dealroom.co/companies/qt_sense
Summary and Signal
QT Sense is a Groningen-based deeptech spinout commercializing nanodiamond quantum sensors that measure free-radical activity inside individual living cells, a measurement modality that conventional fluorescence and mass-spectrometry tools cannot match for spatial resolution at the single-cell level [EU-Startups, Feb 2025] [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025]. The company was founded in 2024 around research led by Romana Schirhagl, whose lab work on nitrogen-vacancy diamond sensing in C. elegans models was published in peer-reviewed literature [PubMed, 2025] [LinkedIn, 2026]. Its commercial product, Quantum Nuova, generates spatially resolved, quantitative maps of radical levels and is being placed with early-access research and drug-discovery partners, including groups studying colorectal cancer [QT Sense Website, 2026] [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026]. The business model is B2B instrument and platform sales into life-sciences research and pharma R&D. Capitalization to date includes a €6 million seed in February 2025 and a reported €4 million follow-on in February 2026, putting total disclosed funding at roughly $10.8 million [EU-Startups, Feb 2025] [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by EU-Startups, The Quantum Insider, PitchBook and the company website.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Value |
|---|---|
| Stage | Seed (two tranches disclosed) |
| Business Model | B2B instruments / platform |
| Industry / Vertical | Healthtech, Life Sciences, Oncology |
| Technology Type | Quantum sensing, nanodiamond NV centers |
| Geography | Netherlands / Western Europe |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale, deeptech |
| Founding Team | Academic spinout, founder Romana Schirhagl |
| Funding | ~$10.8M total disclosed |
Company Overview
QT Sense was incorporated in 2024 in Groningen, the Netherlands, as a commercial vehicle for quantum-sensing research developed in the academic group of Romana Schirhagl, who is listed publicly as the company's founder [LinkedIn, 2026] [EU-Startups, Feb 2025]. The company's registered address is Blauwborgje 31, 9747 AC Groningen [PitchBook, 2026]. Its scientific premise rests on a body of published work using fluorescent nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers as quantum probes for free-radical chemistry inside living cells [PubMed, 2025].
The first major commercial milestone came in February 2025, when QT Sense announced a €6 million seed round to refine the Quantum Nuova product [EU-Startups, Feb 2025] [Tech.eu, Feb 2025] [Silicon Canals, Feb 2025]. In February 2026, the company disclosed an additional €4 million tranche to support real-time analysis of living cells and broader early-access placements [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by PitchBook, EU-Startups, The Quantum Insider and the company website.
The Product and the Stack
The company's product, Quantum Nuova, is an instrument platform that uses nanodiamond quantum sensors to produce spatially resolved, quantitative maps of free-radical levels in biological samples [QT Sense Website, 2026]. Free radicals are implicated in oncology, neurodegeneration, sepsis and inflammation; the QT Sense approach uses NV-center diamonds whose electron-spin properties shift in response to nearby magnetic noise from radicals, allowing optically-read measurements at sub-cellular scale [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025] [PubMed, 2025].
The stated commercial use cases are disease research, drug efficacy profiling and environmental monitoring, with early-access systems being placed with research and drug-discovery partners and at least one disclosed application area in colorectal cancer [QT Sense Website, 2026] [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026]. The February 2026 funding announcement positions a newer capability around real-time analysis of living cells [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product claims corroborated by company website, EU-Startups and The Quantum Insider; underlying science corroborated by PubMed, but commercial specs remain undisclosed.
Market Research and Opportunity
Quantum sensing for life sciences sits at the intersection of the broader research-instruments market and an emerging quantum-technology category. PitchBook classifies QT Sense under Diagnostic Equipment with HealthTech, Life Sciences and Oncology as verticals [PitchBook, 2026]. Industry coverage frames the opportunity around complex diseases such as cancer and sepsis, where existing diagnostic and drug-screening tools struggle to resolve oxidative-stress chemistry at the single-cell level [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025] [Silicon Canals, Feb 2025].
Demand drivers include the shift toward single-cell and spatial-biology readouts in oncology drug discovery, the broadening of oxidative-stress biology across multiple disease areas, and the continued funding of non-fault-tolerant quantum sensing applications [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025] [QT Sense Website, 2026] [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026] [Yole Group, 2025].
| Market reference point | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 seed round | €6,000,000 (~$6.3M) |
| 2026 follow-on | €4,000,000 (~$4.3M reported) |
| Industry classification | Diagnostic Equipment; HealthTech, Life Sciences, Oncology |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market framing corroborated by Tech Funding News, Silicon Canals and PitchBook; no third-party TAM report is cited.
The Competitive Field
QT Sense competes against the installed base of existing oxidative-stress and single-cell measurement workflows. The incumbent toolkit includes fluorescent dye probes, electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometers, and mass spectrometry imaging platforms. QT Sense's pitch is that Quantum Nuova produces quantitative, spatially resolved, non-destructive measurements at sub-cellular scale [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025] [QT Sense Website, 2026].
Public coverage treats QT Sense as a notable European entrant in the NV-diamond sensing category [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2025] [Yole Group, 2025]. The company's defensible edge in the near term is founder-led scientific credibility and approximately $10.8 million of disclosed capital to fund early-access placements [PubMed, 2025] [EU-Startups, Feb 2025] [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitive context inferred from category coverage in The Quantum Insider, Yole Group and Tech Funding News; no direct named competitor confirmed in captured sources.
Opportunity
If Quantum Nuova becomes the standard instrument for spatially resolved free-radical measurement in living cells, QT Sense has a credible path to becoming the default platform for an entire layer of oxidative-stress biology.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Pharma co-development | One or more top-20 pharma companies adopt Quantum Nuova as the standard tool for oxidative-stress profiling in oncology pipelines | A published evaluation agreement and joint paper with a named pharma partner |
| Core-facility standard | Quantum Nuova becomes a standard core-facility instrument across European and US research universities | Distribution partnership with an established life-sciences instrument vendor |
| Diagnostic extension | The platform extends from research tool to regulated companion diagnostic in a specific indication | A successful clinical study and IVDR-track regulatory engagement |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Upside scenarios anchored in cited press and peer-reviewed validation.
Sources
- [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2025] QT Sense Raises €6 Million to Use Quantum Sensing to Understand Diseases | https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/25/qt-sense-raises-e6-million-to-use-quantum-sensing-to-understand-diseases/
- [PitchBook, 2026] QT Sense 2026 Company Profile: Valuation, Funding & Investors | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/720697-60
- [EU-Startups, Feb 2025] QT Sense raises €6 million to understand diseases at a single-cell level with quantum sensing | https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/02/qt-sense-raises-e6-million-to-understand-diseases-at-a-single-cell-level-with-quantum-sensing/
- [Silicon Canals, Feb 2025] Groningen-based QT Sense bags €6M to help treat complex diseases using quantum mechanics | https://siliconcanals.com/groningen-based-qt-sense-bags-6m/
- [Tech Funding News, Feb 2025] Quantum sensing in medicine? This Dutch startup's €6M bet on nanodiamonds could change everything in medtech | https://techfundingnews.com/quantum-sensing-in-medicine-this-dutch-startups-e6m-bet-on-nanodiamonds-could-change-everything-in-medtech/
- [InfinityQD, Feb 2025] QT Sense raises €6 million to understand diseases at a single-cell level | https://www.infinityqd.nl/resources/qt-sense-raises-eu6-million
- [Quantum Computing Report, 2025] QT Sense Raises €6 Million ($6.3M USD) for Quantum Sensing-Based Disease Diagnostics | https://quantumcomputingreport.com/qt-sense-raises-e6-million-6-3m-usd-for-quantum-sensing-based-disease-diagnostics/
- [LinkedIn, 2026] Romana Schirhagl - Founder - QT Sense | https://nl.linkedin.com/in/romana-schirhagl-5898aba0
- [QT Sense Website, 2026] How it works | https://qtsense.com/how-it-works
- [The Quantum Insider, Feb 2026] QT Sense Raises €4 Million For Quantum Tech That Analyzes Living Cells in Real Time | https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/02/04/qt-sense-raises-e4-million-for-quantum-tech-that-analyzes-living-cells-in-real-time/
- [Yole Group, 2025] QT Sense raises €6 million to use quantum sensing to understand diseases | https://www.yolegroup.com/industry-news/qt-sense-raises-e6-million-to-use-quantum-sensing-to-understand-diseases/
- [Tech.eu, Feb 2025] QT Sense raises €6M for quantum-powered disease detection | https://tech.eu/2025/02/25/qt-sense-raises-6m-for-quantum-powered-disease-detection/
- [Dealroom.co, 2025] QT Sense company information, funding & investors | https://app.dealroom.co/companies/qt_sense
- [PubMed, 2025] In Vivo Nanodiamond Quantum Sensing of Free Radicals in Caenorhabditis elegans Models | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39812229/
- [QT Sense Website, 2026] About us | https://qtsense.com/about-us
Articles about QT Sense
- QT Sense Is Putting a Nanodiamond Inside a Living Cell to Read Disease in Real Time — The Groningen startup has raised roughly $10.8M across two seed rounds to ship its Quantum Nuova system to cancer researchers.