A seven-year-old Finnish start-up that creates full-stack quantum computers, IQM has raised $320m in the largest ever Series B raise in the quantum sector outside of the US.
Founded by a group of scientists back in 2018 with the aim of creating the best quantum processing units (QPUs), IQM evolved into building and delivering full-stack superconducting quantum computers. Now it has raised the largest ever Series B round in the quantum space anywhere outside the US, at around $320m. This brings its funding to date to $600m.
The funding round was led by US cybersecurity-focused investment firm Ten Eleven Ventures, with “strong support” from Finnish venture capital and private equity firm Tesi, and existing investors. IQM says the fresh capital will accelerate its growth in the US and other global markets as quantum computing advances into wider production. It will also advance its development roadmap towards error correction, says IQM.
Other investors included pension funds Elo Mutual Pension Insurance and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance, strategic investors Companies of Schwarz Group and Winbond Electronics Corporation, as well as sovereign wealth funds EIC and Bayern Kapital.
“This funding round will fuel our company growth, with an accelerated tech roadmap towards error corrected systems from thousand to million qubits,” said Dr Jan Goetz, co-founder and co-CEO of IQM Quantum Computers.
“The addition of Ten Eleven as our first US-based investor is a catalytic event for IQM and finding the right venture partner in the US – one that could help us scale our technology and deliver value to our partners and customers – was essential. Ten Eleven’s proven track record in guiding companies to category leadership and their alignment with our vision made this partnership an ideal match.”
IQM says it will now expand its commercial presence and scale its data centre infrastructure and assembly lines globally. With further investments into IQM’s chip fabrication in Finland, the funding will also support research and development aimed at achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing in the near term, it says. The advanced fab capabilities will facilitate its goal of scaling up to 1m qubits, paired with quantum error reduction and correction.
“Cybersecurity and quantum share an evolving relationship characterised by common stakeholder communities,” said said Alex Doll, co-founder and managing general partner of Ten Eleven Ventures, who joins IQM’s board of directors. “This overlap will enable us to provide high-value counsel, capital and connections to the IQM team. Ten Eleven’s investment reflects our belief that partnering with companies at the forefront of the quantum era will be essential for the future of secure computing.”
Finnish firm Tesi has been an investor from day one in IQM, and Juha Lehtola, director of venture and growth Investments at Tesi, says it has been a privilege its watch its journey.
“Over the years, IQM has made great strides on its technology roadmap, production capabilities and customer deliveries which truly sets it apart from competition,” said Lehtola. “We are happy that Tesi’s revised investment strategy allowed us to significantly increase our investment to support IQM’s next stage of growth journey.”
A spokesperson told Bloomberg the new raise brings its valuation to more than $1bn, making it just the latest European unicorn. The sheer potential for quantum computing has begun to attract interest from many investors with UK-based Quantinuum believed to have raised nearly $600m this year and France’s Alice & Bob raising over $115m in its Series B round in January.
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