This is the sort of event you may not see that often in Cambridge and I was fortunate to receive an invitation to the opening of Quantum Attire’s new headquarters and get to interview the company’s founder Ferris Kores.
Quantum Attire is perhaps Cambridge’s most innovative startup, and its technology is based on groundbreaking research into particle physics Kores carried out at the Maxwell Centre in Cambridge West. His PhD was in string theory, and he has used the results to break into the potentially game changing market for cloaking attire. In simple terms clothes that enable the wearer to remain invisible. According to Kores string theory is difficult to explain to the layman, even someone such as myself who seen Oppenheimer and built a rudimentary thermo-nuclear device – this was before Ofsted insisted weapons of mass destruction were removed from the curriculum of schools in Cambridge.
String theory is used to explain the strange behaviour of particles. For example, it has been found changing the state of a particle in a lab in Switzerland appears to simultaneously change the state of a particle in Italy. A theory has emerged that these are not two independent particles but instead the ends of a single string like particle snaking its way through an alternative universe. Kores provided a simple example with the help of an extract from the cartoon Tom and Jerry.
‘What you have to imagine.’ Kores told me. ‘Is that instead of living in a three-dimensional world we are like Tom and Jerry who perceive reality as a single frame of the two-dimensional cartoon. For them time elapses when they move on to the next frame. Now consider what happens if a three-dimensional ball passes through Tom and Jerry’s two-dimensional world. What they see is a small dot which mysteriously grows into a flat circle then shrinks back to a dot.’ Kores then takes the length of film and rolls it into a tube. ‘Now when the ball enters Tom and Jerry’s universe it passes, simultaneously, through multiple frames. Not only does the ball appear as a circle getting bigger and smaller but, as Tom and Jerry perceive it, does so in both the past and the future. If Jerry was bright enough and had access to some of the equipment in the new Cavendish Laboratory, he would realise there was in fact a third dimension and a universe beyond his own.’ In the video Jerry did not grasp the implications of what had just happened, possibly because the new Cavendish Laboratory had not yet opened, and instead took out his frustration on Tom by hitting him repeatedly with a frying pan.
Two years ago Kores discovered the first practical application of string theory. ‘I was cycling home along Madingley Road when I noticed the light on my bicycle was flickering. At first I thought there was a loose connection but then suspected some of the light particles might be strings and appearing not in the present but either in the past or the future. I realised this was something of a breakthrough and found I could reduce the degree to which I was visible even further by removing the light completely.’ Kores then visited TK Maxx and bought a black tracksuit and black trainers. He was also fortunate the materials department of the university had developed a paint with a blackbody emissivity close to 1.
‘However, I was not quite there yet.’ Explained Kores. ‘I realised I was still visible due to the light from car headlights, and this is when I saw the potential of string theory. There are two main groups of strings one called D-branes and the other P-branes. I was considering using D-branes but this could have meant me appearing in strange and unusual places, like Oxford, whereas P-branes redirect light into a black hole, probably Bristol or Reading.’
The next challenge was turning these strings into a garment. Here Kores had the help of his landlady, Rosemary Trellis. He took a bundle of strings home from the lab and Rosemary knitted them into a hoody. Rosemary was at the opening of Quantum Attire’s new headquarters. ‘I was only too pleased to help young Ferris and it was good of him to invite me along today.’ Said Rosemary, ‘By coincidence I was already close by. I dropped into A&E across the road to find out why my hands keep disappearing at the weekends and alternate Wednesdays.’
That his idea might form the basis of a spin out company only became apparent one evening after Kores turned off the power to his hoody while cycling home causing him to appear as if from nowhere at the junction of Wilberforce Road. He was explaining how his invention helped him remain invisible to the driver of a Stagecoach Park and Ride bus who had stopped to help a passenger with bleeding nose and bruised forehead. ‘I told him this was just one of my P-Brane ideas and he was almost lost for words, it was when he said, “Fucking priceless,” I realised there were commercial applications.’
Even so raising the initial funding was not easy and as with many other startups the angel investors turned out to be Kores parents. ‘They were reluctant at first.’ Said Kores. ‘But when I told them I had found a way to completely disappear they loaned the money they were intending to use to convert my bedroom back into a loft.’ The money enable Quantum Attire to launch its first product, Quantum Wool and now the company has just received its second round of funding enabling it to move into its new headquarters. They are the first occupants of one of the most impressive new buildings in Cambridge and their principal backer Wayne King is also at the opening; somewhere. (I should explain all Quantum Attire’s employees are wearing the company’s product, examples of which have been handed out to us visitors. Hence the most common answer to my questions was ‘actually I’m over here.’) However, I did eventually manage to pin King down after he removed his cloaking jacket and trousers, preferring to stand in his underwear after discovering the P-brane technology was removing money from his wallet and sending it into a black hole.
‘It was a hard sell at first.’ King admitted. ‘But when Ferris told us Quantum Wool garments were powered by AI our clients realised this was just another technology, they don’t understand but sends share prices through the roof and the money started pouring in. We’ve even set up the “New Clothes Fund,” to invest in invisible technology. The important thing with any new company is scale. You’ve got to be seen to grow, and that’s a tough call if your product is invisible so round one of the funding was simply to employ enough people to make the company seem credible and then round two for a building to put them in.’ King looked around the cavernous atrium of Quantum Attire’s new headquarters. ‘You’ve got to admit this is pretty damn impressive.’ Then he whispered. ‘Keep this under your hat, that’s if you’re wearing a hat, the next product is a real game changer. It’s a visor made out of Quantum Wool which you pull down over your eyes, now that’s something my clients are familiar with.’
Kores who sold 40% of the company to investors for £500 million during round two of Quantum Attire’s funding (he sold 20% during the first round.) ‘The ethos of the King’s New Clothes Fund is closely aligned with ours.’ He said, adding. ‘Some of the money has gone towards recruiting staff. We have a fifteen strong marketing team, an investment relations director as well as the usual back-office staff such as HR, data analytics manager, AI compliance officer an inhouse wellness and mental health team and a masseur.’ Even so, after these and the cost of the new headquarters Quantum Attire has enough cash to last it for three years some of which King has helped the company re-invest. Kores’ remaining stake is worth over £300 million and Quantum Attire itself is now one of Britain’s Unicorns (startups worth over $1billion.)
Kores is planning to sell more shares when Quantum Attire goes public late next year after which he plans to become one of Cambridge’s serial entrepreneurs. ‘In some ways I feel I have taken the technology as far as it can go. I’m not sure what I will do next but I’m keen to do something like this all over again.’ I suggested he might want to try software for self-drive vehicles in view of his experience with innovative forms of transport. Already there are plans for Kores to step back from day to day running of the company and Italian businessman Veleno Challis has been appointed CEO.
Given the publicity Quantum Attire’s planned move into its new headquarters has created it was no surprise two government ministers attended the event. As well as Michael Coke, Jeremy Spooner the current Chancellor of the Exchequer was present. ‘This is great news.’ He told me. ‘Another billion pounds added to the UK economy in what is Britain’s most important growth area. It is companies such as Quantum Attire which are powering the growth of Cambridge and attracting workers to the area, this increases the value of land around the city. We call it Land Value Capture or LVC.’ I suggested this was simply driving up the cost of houses. ‘Unfortunately, yes,’ Spooner said, ‘But the people who work for companies such as Quantum Attire earn enough to pay for expensive houses and when you consider the difference in price between agricultural and development land you can see the impact the growth of Cambridge will have on Britain’s GDP.’ When it came to the wisdom of building on prime agricultural land around the city Spooner was positive this was the way ahead. ‘We must get away from the idea Britain should grow enough food to feed itself, this is something only third world countries need to do.’
I asked Spooner what would happen if for some inexplicable reason people stopped investing in brilliant ideas like Ferris Kores’ quantum wool and as a result Cambridge is left with acres of overpriced land? That Land Value Capture was nice in theory but had he ever heard of Bernie Madoff. ‘There may be the odd bump in the road.’ He replied. ‘But I can assure you my government will remain committed to the city for the foreseeable future, which is currently until midnight on the 3rd of July.’
Spooner’s sentiment was echoed by Michael Coke head of the government’s Department for Tilting at Windmills. (Although, as Quantum Attire was the only company currently occupying the building, most of what Coke said echoed.) We are very excited about the work carried out here in Cambridge by companies such as Quantum Attire and practical applications of more exotic branches of particle physics such as string theory. When it comes to working in an alternative universe, I think both my government and Cambridge University are on the same page.’
Avery Keen was optimistic about the future of Cambridge, with one caveat. ‘The only thing which might hold the city back is the lack of office and lab space, buildings such as this one, into which startups can relocate when they expand.’ Avery works for the property company Bodewell and is confident when it comes to where the market is heading. ‘By 2050 the amount of lab space we are going to need in Cambridge will exceed a billion square feet – that’s square metres if we are to compete with Europe.’ I pointed out that 2050 was some way off. ‘Are you kidding it’s already twenty past six.’ Then he checked his iPhone. ‘Actually, I’ve got an update on that, it’s now 1.5 trillion square feet by 2030, so ignore what Cartwright Whale are saying about it only being 1 Trillion by 2025.’
The region’s water supply is no longer an issue according to Keen. ‘That’s just an excuse dreamt up by Nimbys to hold Cambridge back. As the city expands it will eventually extend to Rutland in the West and Denver Sluice in the east then there will be plenty of fresh water. We see a ring of new developments around the city, like a donut with houses around the edge for people today and the university in the middle providing the jam for tomorrow – having our cake and eating it so to say.’ I pointed out this sounded like a mixed metaphor, along the lines of “thin end of a white elephant” but Keen had received another text message and was phoning his office to check if Zillion was actually a number. He did however hand me a brochure entitled “The Donut Bodewell 2050 Plan For Cambridge.”
The main talking point at the event was the latest report by the Paris based financial consultants Numéros Inventés who have just set up an office in London, and I got to speak to Claude Délirant about his company’s latest report on investment in Cambridge. ‘People underestimate the sheer size of the Cambridge economy.’ Said Claude. ‘Cambridge technology ecosystem is worth over 150 billion Euro, at first sight that’s bigger than Spain and Italy combined; and who takes a second look when people start talking in billions, or even reads past the headline? In fact we’ve just inked a deal with a Generative AI company which uses authoritative financial data from Twitter and Reddit to create our economic forecasts.’
In an effort to get a balanced view from someone with skin in the game I talked again to Wayne King. I asked him why when he fed some of the cash loaned to Quantum Attire back into his bank’s venture capital laundromat some of it was used to short a number of commercial property companies. ‘It’s just a hedge, get me right I’ve got a lot of faith in Ferris Kores but just in case something goes wrong I don’t want to be the one wearing no trunks when the tide goes out.’ Admittedly this sounded strange coming from someone dressed only in his underpants.
There were a few other glitches with Quantum Attire’s product, as can be expected with an early version of something so innovative. In the men’s room I encountered a pair of trousers suspended as if by magic in front of a hand dryer. It transpired these belonged to Buck Rodeo CEO of Prozactazine, one of Cambridge’s 120 fastest-growing PR companies. Rodeo had just stumbled onto one of the drawbacks of being invisible while stood at a urinal. The circuitry and powerpack for his Quantum Attire trousers was clipped to the back of his belt and short circuited when it got wet, hence them now being visible. Even so Rodeo remained upbeat about both the product as well as the stella growth of the company and Cambridge itself. ‘We’ve doubled our staff to forty this year and have twenty people working full time on the Quantum Attire account. We’ve been able to provide them with the visibility they need to gain scale.’
Ignoring the obvious irony here I asked why Rodeo describes Quantum Attire as a Deep Tech company and suggested this was merely what we once called Blue Sky research. ‘No, we stopped using that term because it brought to mind dollar bills floating away in the breeze. The word “Deep” speaks of something with foundations, grounded.’ I pointed out “Deep” also suggested a hole in the ground, but our conversation was cut short because Rodeo was about to host a short award ceremony.
Quantum Attire received “The most innovative EV charging points in a staff car park” award sponsored by Burwell Breakers Yard as well as “The most cash burned through in a year” sponsored by Chesterton PayDay loans Ltd. It also received an award for innovation sponsored by Bodewell which was handed to Kores on the evening by Avery Keen himself, although I wondered how much someone with only an A Level in urban planning understood about astrophysics.
I mentioned this to Barbara ‘RaRa’ Brightside, who is editor of the local business magazine Cambridge Hubris. She told me ‘Cambridge has three newspapers sponsoring technology awards on a near monthly basis to pull in advertising. It’s a bit like a children’s Christmas Party, everyone goes home with a prize. But having worked our way through all the solicitors, estate agents and accountants, we are struggling to find anyone to sponsor the awards or receive them come to that. Two categories which are popular this year are the most employees you can fit on a staircase and the most highly geared AI company – that one is sponsored by Cashout and Run Insolvency Practitioners.’
With that in mind I suggested to Hilary Panic that Quantum Attire resembled an inverted pyramid with a hundred people’s jobs balanced on one person’s idea and that the only astrophysicist in the room was Ferris Kores – I assumed he was still in the room.
Hilary is founder and chair of Cambridge Tomorrow and Cambridge The Day After Tomorrow, Cambridge 28 Days Later, Cambridge Tech East, Cambridge Tech West and co-founder of Cambridge One Mile South and Left A Bit. ‘What has made Cambridge so successful is its ability to create jobs.’ Hilary tells me. ‘Some people fail to realise that after Covid we struggled to create new forums, such as AI in AgTech, BioTech in MedTech, AI and Biotech in AgTech. The growth of forums is governed by the law of exponents and after BlockChain failed to gain traction the number of new ones plateaued. Now of course it is on the rise again thanks to companies like Quantum Attire. We have already set up the Quantum MedTech Clothing group and the CambATAIQC (Cambridge AgTech AI Quantum Clothing) Special Interest Group. The Cambridge Quantum Wireless Wearable Medical Device Group has grown so fast it now has 200 members and we’ve decided to turn it into a company in its own right with a CEO, an office and a £1.5million grant from an accelerator, incubator, or a government backed catapult, I’m not sure which, I’ll get someone to text you with the details. Anyway, not bad for an organisation which doesn’t actually make anything, and its only activity is meeting up once a month to drink coffee and eat canapes. At the last meeting Ferris Kores explained the medical applications of Quantum Attires D-Brane version of its quantum wool.’
Hilary was excited about a D-Brane Quantum Attire vest used in conjunction with an Apple Watch. ‘It might be possible,’ She said, ‘To send your vital signs to a point in the future when a cure has been found for your condition. Now I think the government and the NHS would be very interested in that.’ Aside from causing more than a ripple in the space time continuum, I think the “If we knew then what we know now,” excuse, used at the Covid enquiry, would fall flat should it turn out the formula for the vaccine had turned up mysteriously in a patient’s pyjamas two years before the outbreak.
At the risk of the room being transformed into a H M Bateman cartoon (“The Girl Who Ordered A Glass of Milk at The Café Royal” came to mind) I asked Hilary if Cambridge needed all these forums and special interest groups.
‘They underpin Cambridge Tomorrow.’ Hilary explained. ‘They provide us with clout when promoting the interests of business and overcoming some of the obstacles put in the way of progress by local councils and other organisations which claim, just because they hold elections, they represent the interests of the people of Cambridge. There is often a misconception amongst those priced out of the area by the high cost of living in Cambridge there are only jobs for graduates at companies such as Quantum Attire. This is not true as it provides lots of local people with hands on experience in science. (In the case of Mrs Trellis, hands off might be more accurate.)
‘We should count ourselves lucky to live in a part of the country which values people after they retire.’ Hilary said. ‘Live somewhere else in Britain and after the age of 65 there is little to do apart from visiting garden centres or flogging off your family heirlooms on Antiques Roadshow. Here in Cambridge, you can join one of the thousands of forums, pass on your experience to a new generation of entrepreneur and offer them advice, such as how to avoid the 10-billion-dollar company you founded with government backing ending up based in Singapore.
‘You also have to consider what all the people who have flocked to Cambridge would do all day if they weren’t all these organisations supporting companies such as Quantum Attire. They would have little else to occupy them save staring at their mobile phones all day.’ I wanted to press Hillary on this, but we had been speaking for three minutes and she had to update her Instagram and WhatsApp timelines, add a post to her Facebook page and respond to five text messages and a LinkedIn request.
Missing, for now anyway, from Cambridge Tomorrow’s list of forums, although perhaps Hilary will soon create one for Cambridge 28 Days Later, is Quantum Clothing in DefTech. ‘The weaponising of this technology is a forgone conclusion.’ A member of Britain’s security service told me, on the condition he remained anonymous given the secret nature of his work. I caught up with him in Waterstones where he was signing a copy of his recently published autobiography – an account of his experiences during the Cold War, including some hair-raising experiences, such as the time an East German border guard asked him for his passport and told him to empty his pockets.
‘The Chinese will obviously want to get their hands on Quantum Attire’s technology. They’ve probably already got it. After all, how would we know, there could be a member of the MSS stood next to you right now.’ He waved a copy of his book around, but there was nobody stood near us, visible or otherwise, apart from a young boy rubbing the side of his head. ‘Can’t be too careful.’ He said. ‘Started to think about this ten years ago. Had a globe in our office, one day was looking at it and realised all the people we worried about, the Russians, Iranians and the French, were there in plain sight. But the Chinese were around the back where we couldn’t see them. And ask yourself why when they flew to the moon they decided to land on the dark side. If they have taken that much trouble to remain hidden you can be damn sure they will be interested in uniforms made from Quantum Wool.’
Quantum Attire’s Promotional Video
Next, I got the chance to ask our local MP, Ivor Safeseat, if he was worried that Cambridge’s growth might prove unsustainable. ‘A year ago, I expressed concerns that Cambridgeshire would be concreted over,’ He told me, ‘But now I’ve moved to a constituency where trees are as rare as GP surgeries and see there is merit in the Donut Bodewell Plan. Taking the lead from the German town planner Fritz Lang I believe we can create one of Europe’s leading metropolises with homes for workers in developments at the edge of the county. That way Cambridge itself remains both a vibrant and unspoilt place for young people to relax and drink coffee and not cluttered up with pensioners buying groceries. As well if workers can be encouraged to move to Northstowe, Cambourne or StNeots we can make space for nature in the villages around Cambridge, and for people educated enough to appreciate it.’
I mentioned that some of these workers might regard these villages, and Cambridge itself, as their home. ‘They won’t lose contact with their friends and family.’ Explained Safeseat. ‘They can wave at them as they pass through them on East West Rail or one of the many guided busways we have got planned.’ I suggested this sounded rather dystopian, ‘There are cities where this works.’ Safeseat suggested, and I asked if he was thinking of Milton Keynes. ‘Actually, Cape Town and Johannesburg are what I had in mind.’
Recently Safeseat courted controversy by lambasting a school which upped its Ofsted rating by improving discipline. ‘Resources are a key issue in Cambridgeshire, and we cannot waste them overeducating children. Do that and we won’t have people to carry out menial tasks such as catering for example.’ I became slightly concerned at this point as the tray of small sausages on sticks, which was hovering next to the Right Honourable Safeseat, began to tremble. ‘It is the same with GP surgeries, they just aren’t needed outside Cambridge. A lot of overseas MedTech companies have been attracted to Cambridge after Brexit in the hope rules on medical trials will be relaxed. How are we going to keep them here if there are no sick people to test their drugs on?’
I caught up with Ferris again who was sat on a seat in front of Quantum Attire’s new headquarters and asked him why he chose to move into this particular building, after all there are now thousands of square metres of empty laboratories and offices on science parks in Melbourn, Cambourne, Babraham as well as in Cambridge itself.
‘It has been tough finding new premises, and the situation is much like it was in the housing market a while back.’ Kores said. ‘Then prospective house buyers would arrange a viewing only to find when they arrived it had already been sold. Now we can find just the right lab and then within the space of a year, and sometimes as little as eighteen months, someone else has made an offer. Also, something Avery Keen from Bodewell told us when he pointed us in the direction of this building, a lot of those labs you mentioned only appear empty.’ Kores was shocked to find he had competition in the invisible technology market. Like Genetics and Artificial Intelligence, once people realised how easy it was to raise money everyone wanted their share of the cash pile.’
So, I am guessing we will be seeing a lot of Quantum Attire and other companies in the invisible technology space here in Cambridge, or perhaps not if you are driving along Madingley Road at night.