- Female-founded Photonic has raised over $200 million, led by Planet First Partners, pushing its valuation to around $2 billion.
- Founded by Dr. Stephanie Simmons, the company is building distributed quantum computing systems to enable scalable, real-world applications.
- The fresh funding will be used to advance commercial quantum computing, expand the team, and strengthen partnerships as global competition in quantum technology intensifies.
Vancouver-based quantum computing company Photonic has raised over $200 million, or about $275 million CAD, in a fresh funding round led by Planet First Partners, pushing its valuation to about $2 billion.
With this, Photonic’s total funding now stands at more than $350 million.
The round saw participation from a mix of new and existing investors, including Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, Bell Ventures, and Mubadala Capital. Microsoft, Royal Bank of Canada, and TELUS had also come on board.
The company emerged to tackle one of the biggest bottlenecks in quantum computing: reliability and scalability. While many players are still focused on early-stage systems, Photonic is pushing toward fault-tolerant quantum computing, which is considered a key step toward real commercial use.
Founded in 2016 by Dr Stephanie Simmons, physicist and professor at Simon Fraser University, whose research into silicon spin qubits formed the technical foundation for what Photonic is now building commercially, Photonic is working on distributed quantum computing. It combines silicon-based qubits with photonic connections, allowing quantum systems to run over existing fibre networks.
In simple terms, the company is trying to make quantum computing more practical and easier to scale using existing infrastructure.
Photonic operates in a competitive space alongside major quantum players such as IBM and Google, both of which are also investing heavily in quantum research. What sets Photonic apart is its focus on distributed systems and compatibility with telecom infrastructure, rather than building isolated machines.
“This financing unites government, strategic partners, and international investors around a shared conviction: that commercial-scale quantum computing is within reach – and that its economic impact will be transformative. We will use this funding to continue to hit key milestones, grow our team, and deepen the partnerships that will take us there,” says Don Mattrick, CEO, Photonic Inc.
The fresh funding will be used to hit key development milestones, grow the team, and strengthen partnerships.
