Riverlane, a quantum error correction technology, has raised $75 million in Series C funding. This round follows the £15 million Series B funding round raised back in 2023.
The round was led by Planet First Partners with participation from sustainability venture capital investors ETF Partners and Singapore-based EDBI. Existing investors Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), Amadeus Capital Partners (which invested in qomodo and Nu Quantum), the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), and HPC leader Altair also participated in the Series C round.
Funds utilisation
The funding will enable the company to expand operations to meet surging global market demand for QEC technology, to achieve one million error-free quantum computer operations by 2026. Its roadmap details a series of product releases, each incorporating significant scientific and technical breakthroughs toward this goal.
It also plans to expand its operations to meet growing demand from other hardware companies and governments worldwide.
Nathan Medlock, Managing Partner at Planet First Partners, said: “We invest in companies with the potential to have a transformative impact on society and the environment. Riverlane’s focus on quantum error correction, coupled with its collaboration with quantum computer makers worldwide, can accelerate the global market and enable new quantum computing applications that can substantially contribute to solving social and environmental issues.”
Hermann Hauser, Co-founder and Venture Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners, said: “The creation of a common chip architecture solved the defining technology challenge of a new computing paradigm. Riverlane is doing the same in quantum computing. Its QEC chip and stack technology can accelerate the whole industry.”
What challenge does it address?
Demand for quantum error correction technology has grown dramatically over the past year. Driven by a series of technical breakthroughs, improvements in qubit quality, and a global shift towards building error-corrected quantum systems, the quantum computing industry is now looking beyond today’s small, error-prone machines to a new generation of ‘fault-tolerant’ quantum computers with integrated QEC technology.
To address this gap, Riverlane, a quantum engineering company is developing hardware and software for qubit ‘Control’ and error ‘Decoding’.
What does the company do?
Founded by Steve Brierley, Riverlane’s mission is to make quantum computing useful. It aims to transform the future of computing,
The company has built the world’s largest dedicated quantum error correction team with close to a hundred interdisciplinary experts working on its core product, Deltaflow. Applicable to quantum computers using all major qubit types, Deltaflow comprises proprietary QEC chips, hardware, and software technologies working in unison to correct billions of errors per second.
In 2022, Riverlane released the world’s fastest Decode solution, allowing Deltaflow.OS to support more qubits than was previously conceivable.
Today’s best quantum computers can perform only a few hundred quantum operations before failure. Deltaflow will help this increase to millions and, ultimately, trillions of error-free quantum operations. Achieving this scale will unlock transformative applications in industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, material science, and transportation.
Riverlane’s Founder & CEO, Steve Brierley, said: “Quantum error correction is the critical enabler for the industry’s next huge wave of progress, from today’s small error-prone machines to large and reliable quantum computers that will start a new age of human progress as significant as the digital revolution. Our partners recognise the value in working with Riverlane to deliver a solution that fits their needs – we are building the right product at the right time to seize this opportunity.”
Riverlane’s partnerships
The company with offices in Boston and Cambridge partners with leading quantum computing companies and government bodies, including Rigetti Computing, Alice & Bob, QuEra Computing, Infleqtion, Atlantic Quantum, and national labs such as Oakridge National Lab in the US and the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NǪCC).
John Martinis, Professor of Physics at UC Santa Barbara and former Quantum Computing Lead at Google Quantum AI, said: “When I led the world’s first successful quantum supremacy experiment in 2019, it helped unlock a collective optimism for what quantum computers can achieve. Five years on, I’m even more optimistic. Building the next generation of devices that live up to the technology’s incredible promise requires a massive step change in scale and reliability, and that requires reliable error correction schemes in quantum hardware.”
Bharath Kannan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Atlantic Quantum said: “Quantum error correction (QEC) is the only way to enable sustained quantum computation for long-depth algorithms, which is foundational to all useful applications. We are excited to collaborate with the QEC experts at Riverlane to maximise the potential of our world-class hardware as we scale to larger systems.”
Subodh Kulkarni, Chief Executive Officer at Rigetti Computing, said: “Addressing qubit errors is one of the most important challenges facing the quantum computing ecosystem. Rigetti and Riverlane are longtime collaborators, and being able to leverage their leading error correction expertise continues to be a great asset as we advance our work towards building useful quantum computers.”
What do we think about Riverlane?
Riverlane’s approach to quantum error correction (QEC) positions it as a critical player in the future of quantum computing. By aiming to achieve one million error-free operations by 2026, the company is set to significantly advance fault-tolerant quantum systems. Its strong partnerships and interdisciplinary expertise will likely drive transformative applications across industries, ensuring Riverlane’s pivotal role in the evolution of quantum technology.
