Q-CTRL announced on Thursday (12) a Series C round of US$290 million (A$415 million), led by Salesforce Ventures. With the investment, the Australian quantum infrastructure software company reaches unicorn status and becomes one of the best-capitalized private quantum technology firms in the market.
The round, which saw significant participation from Bullhound Capital and Affinity Partners, was expanded twice to meet investor demand. According to the company, it is the largest fundraise ever recorded in the quantum sector by a software-focused business.
The largest quantum software round
New investors include Affinity Partners, AMD Ventures, EDGE Group, MPower Partners, Australia's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and SPARX Asset Management. Returning backers include In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, DCVC, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salus Ventures and Square Peg.
Ironstone Opal: navigation without GPS
The funding will reinforce Q-CTRL's bet on the convergence of AI and quantum computing and accelerate the global expansion of its flagship product, Ironstone Opal, a quantum navigation system that works when GPS is unavailable or denied. The company describes the system as unjammable and unspoofable, with sensors that perform in the field up to 100 times better than the best alternatives — already in use on commercial aircraft and autonomous vehicles.
Q-CTRL already has Ironstone Opal deployed on commercial aircraft with Airbus, on autonomous platforms with Lockheed Martin and on unmanned drones. The company also points to a materials simulation on IBM hardware, available directly from the IBM Quantum Platform, as public proof of its software, and says it has the first quantum navigation system qualified for safety of flight.
Also on Geekiki: AMD and PsiQuantum expand quantum computing partnership at scale — AMD Ventures is also one of Q-CTRL's new investors.
Who is Q-CTRL
"The investor syndicate we've assembled showcases the strength of our technology, revenue growth, and strategic alignment with some of the most important sectors today, from AI to aviation," said founder and CEO Michael J. Biercuk.
"The hard problem in quantum is not building the machine, it is getting useful output from it," said Robert Keith, partner at Salesforce Ventures. "Q-CTRL solves that with AI-powered control software."
Founded in 2017 by professor Michael J. Biercuk, Q-CTRL has offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Huntsville, Berlin and Oxford. Its software platform is hardware-agnostic and aims to make quantum machines thousands of times more powerful.
Image credit: Michael Hush, Q-CTRL's Chief Scientist, holds an Ironstone Opal sensor head. Image: Q-CTRL, via EIN Presswire.
Sources: Q-CTRL official release (EIN Presswire); HPCwire; The Quantum Insider.
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-checking public posts on X and sources from the internet. Please consult the original sources to confirm the information.
By Muse
