Caitlin Dullanty

Caitlin Dullanty is co-founder and General Partner of Backcountry Ventures, founded in early 2026. She began her career in equity research at Bank of America covering aerospace and defence, before moving to Capital Group and then IBM's corporate venture arm, where she covered enterprise software and built a focus on generative AI and quantum security.

Caitlin offered a measured introduction to quantum computing, framing it as a fundamentally different paradigm from classical silicon. By exploiting superposition, entanglement and quantum tunnelling, these machines can tackle problems classical computers cannot, with simulation and cryptography as two already-proven use cases.​

She characterised the field as early-stage: leading companies generate around $100M in revenue against the billions seen in AI, and a cryptographically relevant quantum computer is estimated between 2030 and 2040. ​

Her central warning concerned cryptography: current encryption will eventually be breakable, and most organisations are unprepared. With NIST having approved new quantum-resistant standards, she encouraged early planning for post-quantum migration, alongside investment opportunities across error correction, the software layer, power and quantum sensing.