Finnish startup IQM Quantum Computers, which is developing a next-generation of superconducting quantum computers, has scooped €128 million in Series A2 funding. This follows the €39 million Series A1 funding it raised in 2020 and the €35 million venture loan from EIB earlier this year. Notably, this Series A2 financing is touted to be the largest ever funding round to be raised by a European quantum computing company.
The financing round was led by World Fund along with participation from Bayern Kapital, EIC Fund, OurCrowd, QCI SPV, Tofino and Varma, as well as existing investors Maki.vc, Matadero QED, MIG Fonds, OpenOcean, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, Tencent, Tesi, and Vsquared.
Tackle the climate crisis
IQM will use the fresh funds to expand its international business and accelerate product development, with a focus on developing quantum processors to help tackle the climate crisis.
Dr. Sierk Poetting, Chairman of IQM Quantum Computers, said: “This financing round is a significant milestone that recognizes our recent technological milestones and 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.”
Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers, said: “This funding underscores the importance of our mission: building quantum computers for the well-being of humankind. It also demonstrates the confidence in our business model and the continued trust in our team’s ability to build the future of quantum technologies. 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, said: “It gives us immense pleasure to support the amazing IQM team and its founders, who have meticulously and consistently built IQM with a strong on-premises business model focused on high-performance computing centres and national quantum labs. We look forward to being a part of their growth phase towards global leadership.”
Builds next-gen quantum computers
Founded by Kuan Yen Tan, Jan Goetz, Mikko Möttönen and Juha Vartiainen in 2018, IQM’s mission is to use its technology for the well-being of humankind and that extends to tackling the climate crisis. IQM’s on-premise quantum computers are used by research laboratories and supercomputing centres to address challenging problems in healthcare, finance, logistics and chemistry. The company’s innovative co-design strategy also enables industrial customers to work closely with IQM to achieve quantum advantage based on application-specific processors.
Reportedly, we are likely approaching towards a decade of quantum technology with governments and organisations investing in the quantum future. Having this in mind, IQM has partnered with organisations such as Atos, VTT and Infineon to develop solutions that leverage this transformative technology.
Already, the company is exploring novel approaches to develop better battery solutions with a leading car manufacturer, as well as ground-breaking methods for new material design and quantum algorithms that can be used to tackle climate problems.
