- IQM Quantum Computers began trading on Nasdaq on July 2 under the ticker “IQMX,” reaching the public market through a SPAC merger rather than a traditional IPO.
- The deal values IQM at a pre-money valuation of roughly $1.8 billion and delivers a pro forma cash position of €337 million.
- IQM reported €31 million in 2025 revenue, an unusually concrete commercial number in a sector where most rivals report losses and little to no sales.
The Finnish quantum computing company IQM started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on July 2 with the ticker “IQMX.”
Rather than going through a traditional IPO, IQM merged with Real Asset Acquisition Corp, a Princeton-based SPAC. While many European tech companies move to the US for capital, IQM chose to stay in Finland.
IQM was founded in 2018 by Jan Goetz, Mikko Möttönen, Kuan Yen Tan, and Juha Vartiainen. The company builds full-stack superconducting quantum computers for customers to own and operate on-site. The company is still based in Espoo, Finland, has major operations in Munich, and employs more than 400 people.
Accessing Nasdaq while staying rooted in Helsinki
For years, many European tech companies believed they had to reincorporate in Delaware, move to Silicon Valley, or list only on a US exchange and reduce their presence at home to access major US capital. IQM’s listing challenges this idea.
Along with its Nasdaq listing, IQM is working on a dual listing on Nasdaq Helsinki, with trading set to start the day after its New York debut. Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority approved IQM’s Finnish-language prospectus on July 1, making the Helsinki listing possible. This lets IQM stay within its familiar regulatory and investor environment while reaching a wider US public market.
The ownership structure backs up this strategy. Current IQM shareholders kept their shares and did not take out cash, and all major shareholders agreed to standard lock-up terms at closing. Tesi, Finland’s state-owned venture capital fund, and pension insurers Varma and Elo remain invested, so Finnish institutional capital maintains a stake in the company’s future on the public markets.
Why staying in Finland makes financial sense
IQM stands out in quantum hardware because it already has revenue. The company reported €31 million in revenue for 2025, has an order backlog of over €67 million, and has sold 23 quantum computers so far. This strong business base gave IQM more leverage than most companies going public via a SPAC, allowing it to set the terms of the deal and keep its headquarters.
By comparison, competitors like Quantinuum, which is backed by Honeywell, filed for a traditional Nasdaq IPO in May with a target valuation of up to $20 billion. That is more than ten times IQM’s valuation, even though Quantinuum reported a $136.6 million net loss last quarter on $5.2 million in revenue. IonQ and Rigetti Computing, both US-based and already public, are also still unprofitable.
The SPAC merger gave IQM €406 million in cash, including about $146 million from a private investment in public equity, short for PIPE, round, partly backed by Ilmarinen, another Finnish pension insurer. After the listing, IQM has a pro forma cash position of €337 million, which it plans to use to develop fault-tolerant quantum computing, an important goal for the industry.
“Quantum computing is reaching an inflexion point. Around the world, organisations are moving from exploration to implementation, investing in quantum infrastructure and building the capabilities that will define the next generation of computing. IQM enters the public markets from a position of strength, with leading technology, a growing global customer base, and a clear strategy for scaling the commercial adoption of quantum computing,” says Goetz.
Sierk Poetting, chairman of IQM’s board, described the move in similar terms when the merger was first announced in February. He said going public was “not a change of direction but is rather an acceleration.”
Tom Henriksson, general partner at OpenOcean and an early investor in IQM, said the listing is a turning point for European deep tech companies looking for public capital without leaving their home base.
“IQM’s Nasdaq debut is a landmark for European deep tech. It proves that with the right vision, European companies can stand tall on the world stage and access serious US public capital without relocating their core R&D or ambition,” he notes.
A test case for the next generation
This listing wraps up a period of growth that TFN has covered from the beginning. In 2025, IQM raised €275 million in a Series B round led by Ten Eleven Ventures, bringing total funding to €515 million, and got another €50 million from BlackRock before the listing. We also reported on the SPAC merger plan in February, when the deal was set at about the same $1.8 billion pre-money valuation now confirmed at closing.
The quantum sector is likely to see more public listings in the next year, with many companies facing the same choice as IQM: go after US capital on US terms or keep their original structure.
IQM’s dual listing and shareholder lock-ups show that both goals can be achieved, but the real test will be whether Nasdaq investors continue to support a Finnish-headquartered, Finnish-owned company as much as they do those that move.
