Scoring rules

Methodology

vc.fail answers a narrow question: of the RootData top 100 crypto VCs, how many have no quantum-related holding in the public book? That is a measurement of the public book, not a judgment of the partners, and not a forecast of Q-Day.

Holdings come from public RootData records. A holding is quantum-related when it matches the Quantum Canary roster or a RootData tag starting with Post-Quantum. A missing tag is not a claim about the company. Missing public evidence is not proof of insecurity, and no figure describes a fund's private book or future returns. Read the methodology.

What counts as a quantum-related holding

A public holding is quantum-related when either source matches. A holding that matches both is counted once.

  1. Quantum Canary. The holding matches the Quantum Canary post-quantum coin roster by name, slug, or recorded alias. Quantum Canary is the source of truth for coin membership. A Canary coin such as NEAR still counts when RootData does not give it a post-quantum tag. A recorded name collision is not a match: the RootData holding named Nexus is Nexus Laboratories, the zkVM, and is not the Quantum Canary coin at nexus.io.
  2. RootData tags. The project has a tag whose name starts with Post-Quantum. RootData is the source of truth for that tag. A missing tag in this snapshot is not a claim that the company is unrelated to quantum computing.

Anything outside that union does not count. A name that merely contains "quantum", such as Quantum Temple, stays out unless Canary lists it or RootData applies an allowed tag. Quantum-computing hardware or software counts only when RootData lists the company and applies a Post-Quantum tag. RootData's visible tags are post-quantum crypto categories, not a general quantum-computing directory. This site does not apply a separate handwritten cryptography tag.

A holding that is not quantum-related is not classified as insecure. It is simply not a quantum-related holding in this snapshot.

Primary metric

Quantum-related holdings in the public book : count of unique RootData holdings that are quantum-related, shown against the number of unique holdings. The homepage number is a failure count: VCs with no quantum-related holding at all.

Secondary metrics

  • Disclosed round total: sum of disclosed announced round sizes in the public snapshot. This is not the fund's check size, not deployed cost basis, and not assets under management. Holdings without a disclosed size are counted as rounds and omitted from the sum.
  • Rounds: unique companies in the public snapshot.

Homepage headline

The homepage asks which of the RootData top 100 VCs have any quantum-related holding in the public book.

The progress bar is the share of RootData VCs with any quantum-related holding in the public book.

Under the count, the homepage lists announced RootData round sizes from the cached get_fac snapshot, matched onto the same top 100 VC books. Holdings without a matching disclosed size are omitted. The large figure is announced RootData round size into holdings that are not quantum-related. The green line is announced round size into quantum-related holdings only, not the rest of that fund's book. Each numbered RootData fundraising round is counted once, even when several sampled VCs are listed on it. This is not the VC's check. Holdings whose size comes from a holding record instead of a numbered RootData round still add per book. Public AUM estimates never substitute for missing round sizes. The cached round list is the newest get_fac pages that fit the snapshot, not every historical round.

Homepage fund list

Below the headline, the homepage lists the 10 funds with the most quantum-related holdings. A quantum-related holding is a unique company that matches the Quantum Canary roster or a RootData tag starting with Post-Quantum. Funds with the same number of quantum-related holdings are ordered by public book size, then RootData rank. That list is a preview of the same 100-VC universe, not a separate sample. The searchable diagnostic opens on the same order.

Data sources

Portfolio holdings come from a local RootData Plus snapshot dated 2026-09-17, stored in this repository so the diagnostic can be rebuilt without spending API credits. The universe is the 100 most active RootData VCs by trailing-year investment count. People and project investors are excluded. When trailing-year counts tie, lifetime investment count then RootData id break the tie. Overlays enrich fund names, stage tags, and geography; they never add a fund outside that ranked set. RootData records who invested in whom. A project tag whose name starts with Post-Quantum is a second source for quantum-related membership. A missing tag is not a classification of the company.

The disclosed round total on a fund profile is the sum of announced RootData round sizes in this snapshot (data as of 2026-09-17). It is not assets under management, not a third-party AUM estimate, and not the VC's check.

  • RootData Plus investor records, stored as dated JSON snapshots in this repository so builds do not spend API credits
  • RootData Plus fundraising rounds (get_fac), used for announced round sizes on the homepage and fund pages when an investor is listed on the round
  • Official fund sites used for fund identity
  • Quantum Canary post-quantum coins roster, one source for whether a public holding is quantum-related
  • RootData project tags whose names start with Post-Quantum, stored in the local snapshot. Builds do not call RootData. If a tag is absent from the snapshot, that holding is not quantum-related via RootData.

Limitations

  • Public portfolios only. Side letters, undisclosed SPVs, and liquid books are out of scope.
  • Completeness follows RootData's public investor ranking. A missing public holding will not count until it is in the snapshot.
  • The disclosed round total on a fund profile is the sum of disclosed RootData round sizes, not assets under management, not mark-to-market NAV, and not the VC's check. Portfolio “% of disclosed total” uses that sum as the denominator and the announced round size as the numerator.
  • Coin membership is Quantum Canary's. This site does not second-guess a listed coin from protocol docs. Tag membership is the RootData tag name. A name that contains "quantum" is not enough.
  • No private-portfolio claims. If it is not public, it is not here.
  • A missing RootData name is not evidence that a fund did not invest, and it is not evidence of insecurity. A missing RootData tag is not evidence that a company is unrelated to quantum computing.

Update cadence

Quarterly full refresh, plus ad-hoc updates when a major round lands, the Quantum Canary roster changes, or RootData Post-Quantum tags change. Holdings and tags refresh from the RootData snapshot in this repo. A missing API key or an expired subscription still builds from the last snapshot.