Quantum Computing Hits New Venture Dollar Highmark

Last month, quantum computing startup QuEra Computing locked up a whopping $230 million round from the likes of SoftBank’s Vision Fund unit and Google Quantum AI. That was followed just a couple of weeks later by Israel-based Quantum Machines raising a $170 million Series C led by PSG Equity.

If last year is any indication, those will be only the first of many big rounds this year for quantum startups.

In fact, 2024 set a new high for venture dollars invested into quantum — a level of computing much faster and superior to traditional computers that can perform many complex calculations simultaneously.

Last year, venture capital-backed quantum startups raised $1.9 billion in 62 rounds, according to Crunchbase data. The dollar figure is a 138% jump from the $789 million raised in 67 rounds in 2023.

Another deal that significantly boosted those numbers: A $594 million financial package landed by Palo Alto, California-based PsiQuantum from the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland Government. The startup will use the funds — a mix of equity, grants and loans — to build a quantum computer at a location near Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia.

Nevertheless, even without that round, last year’s numbers would nearly have matched the previous high of $1.5 billion in 2022.

Cause for optimism

The surge in funding for quantum startups was likely spurred on by big breakthroughs by companies including Google and IBM last year. Those milestones show no signs of stopping — just last month, Microsoft said it had created a new state of matter in its quest to make an extremely powerful machine — what it’s calling a “topological qubit” based on a new physical composition.

Venture capitalists always looking for the next big quantum startup to invest in are undoubtedly following the quantum-related news of these tech giants. Aside from the PsiQuantum round, there were other massively large rounds raised by startups, including:

In January, Broomfield, Colorado-based Quantinuum — which was spun off of Honeywell in 2021 and merged with Cambridge Quantum Computing — locked up a $300 million equity fundraise at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion.
In late December, Alphabet spinoff SandboxAQ — an AI and quantum computing startup — also raised a $300 million round at a $5.6 billion valuation.
The previously mentioned Quantum Machines, which develops hardware and software solutions to control and operate quantum computers, raised a $100 million venture round in January of last year.
Finally, in August U.K.-based Riverlane — which specializes in quantum error correction technology — raised a $75 million Series C.

Much of the same

There is little reason to believe this year won’t follow last year’s path in terms of venture investment for the industry.

One likely reason: generative AI. Quantum computing very likely could help out with the massive computing needs and energy consumption holding back AI.

Just as data centers have seen billions of dollars in investments to help with the problem, so could quantum computing.

Quantum computers would be much more powerful than any supercomputer. And while quantum computing consumes a lot of energy since the computer must be kept at a temperature of absolute zero to work properly, quantum still could be as much as 100x more energy efficient than a typical supercomputer for comparable calculation times.

Even aside from AI, it seems many are starting to warm to the technology’s ability to transform a variety of industries ranging from healthcare and biotech to financial services to even defense.

That all likely will be too much for many in venture to pass up.