Making quantum matter.

Erik Langaker is Chairman of the ORCA Computing Board and a globally respected technology investor and board leader with deep expertise in applied technology, digital transformation, and operational scale-up. He has chaired and served on the boards of leading technology and industrial companies across Europe and the UK, providing governance and strategic guidance to both private and publicly listed enterprises. His experience spans high-growth ventures, established corporations and international investment firms. As Chairman and investor at Pragmatic Semiconductor Ltd, he led Europe’s largest private semiconductor funding round (£193M Series D), supported significant valuation growth, and oversaw the company’s transition to scalable operations. Over a 30-year career, he has led and advised a range of industrial and technology ventures, bringing a strong commercial lens to innovation.

Richard co-founded ORCA Computing in 2019. He is an accomplished business executive and technologist with a PhD in quantum atom-optics and over 15 years of experience managing scientific teams working on disruptive early-stage technologies such as quantum, AR/VR and other consumer and industrial applications of photonics. Under his leadership, the company has grown to 45 people, expanded globally and developed a roadmap focused on building a fault-tolerant universal quantum computer. Previously, Richard worked for the UK government alongside Sir Peter Knight creating the £270m UK quantum technologies programme. He was also pivotal in the early stages of the €1 billion EU quantum flagship programme.

Josh co-founded ORCA Computing in 2019. As CSO, he heads up the company’s scientific and technical vision. Previously he was a Reader in Photonics at the Department of Physics at the University of Bath, where his research focused on quantum light-matter interactions. Prior to this, he was a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, running the Photonics programme for the UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Computing where his team invented the ORCA memory. He has published papers on quantum state and process tomography, quantum thermodynamics and quantum key distribution, and has patents licensed on microwave-to-optical conversion and random number generation.

As CCO, Per is responsible for leading the global commercial strategy and driving and accelerating growth. He is a well-known figure in advanced computing and an experienced leader with a demonstrated track record of sustained growth at the intersection of technology, industry, and business strategy. Per has three decades of experience in the development of market strategy, product introduction, organisational development and go-to-market execution with leading-edge technologies including machine learning, cloud and supercomputing. Previously he spent 17 years at the supercomputing leader Cray where he became Vice President with responsibilities for global commercial strategy in artificial intelligence, cloud and industry vertical markets.