The next decade is predicted to be the decade of quantum technology with governments and organisations investing in preparing for the quantum future now. Finland-based deep tech startup IQM Quantum Computers (IQM) has raised €128 million in Series A2 funding to further speed up building superconducting quantum computers.
The investment follows a €39 million-raise in 2020 and includes part of a €35 million venture loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced earlier this year. According to the company, it is the largest-ever funding round raised by a European quantum computing company.
The round was led by World Fund and included participation from Bayern Kapital, EIC Fund, OurCrowd, QCI SPV, Tofino and Varma and existing investors Maki.vc, Matadero QED, MIG Fonds, OpenOcean, Salvia , Santo Venture Capital, Tencent, Tesi, and Vsquared.
Founded in 2018, the company is building on-premises quantum computers for supercomputing data centres and research labs and offers full access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers a quantum advantage through a unique application-specific, co-design approach.
With this new investment, IQM will also co-design quantum computer processors to provide solutions to tackle the climate crisis and promote sustainable development to improve lives around the world. Its technology could enable innovation in areas such as energy grid optimisation and climate modelling.
The company is also exploring new approaches to develop better battery solutions with a car manufacturer.
Sierk Poetting, chairman of IQM said: “This financing round contributes to the acceleration of IQM’s development efforts. We value the continued participation of our existing investors and welcome new investors to this powerful syndicate.”
Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM added: “WE aim to build quantum computers for the well-being of humankind. The funding demonstrates the confidence in our business model. I am confident that we will continue to achieve all our product and business milestones and deliver world-class quantum computers to our customers.”
Daria Saharova, founding partner at World Fund, concluded: “Quantum computing holds the potential to drive the breakthroughs needed to help solve the climate crisis. We are proud to lead this round and support IQM’s ambition to deliver quantum advantage to climate and sustainability goals. This investment aligns with our commitment to back only companies with the highest climate performance potential (CPP) so that our portfolio can save two gigatonnes of emissions yearly by 2040 - the equivalent to four percent of all global emissions.”
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