Finland’s IQM Quantum Computers announced that it raised €128 million ($130.5 million) in Series A2 funding in a round led by World Fund, and which also includes includes part of a €35m ($35.7 million) venture loan from the European Investment Bank that was announced earlier this year.
IQM claimed it is the largest funding round ever raised by a European quantum computing company, a neat trick at a time when many in the sector have been expecting the flow of new funding to slow down. IQM’s latest round comes after other European firms like Terra Quantum and Alice&Bob announced their own sizeable funding rounds earlier this year.
IQM plans to use the money to expand its international business and accelerate product development. The round included participation from Bayern Kapital, EIC Fund, OurCrowd, QCI SPV, Tofino and Varma, as well as existing investors Maki.vc, Matadero QED, MIG Fonds, OpenOcean, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, Tencent, Tesi, and Vsquared.
Since IQM was founded roughly four years ago, it has been particularly focused on applying its superconducting quantum computing to help solve the climate crisis. The company noted that quantum computing could be integral to finding resolutions to climate issues due to the technology’s ability to model solutions that would previously be impossible to achieve through current levels of computing power. McKinsey forecasted that climate technologies developed using quantum computing could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by seven gigatons a year by 2035, far more than politicians and corporations may be able to accomplish in the same time frame with their modest goals. This could include helping to decarbonize power and fuel, re-shaping industrial operations and reforming food and forestry, IQM said.
Specifically, the new investment will allow IQM to dedicate resources to co-designing quantum computer processors to provide solutions to tackle the climate crisis and promote sustainable development. This could lead to further innovation in areas such as energy grid optimization and climate modelling. Already, the company is exploring novel approaches to develop better battery solutions with a leading car manufacturer, as well as ground-breaking methods for new material design and quantum algorithms that can be used to tackle climate problems, the company said.
All of this is very appealing to World Fund. Daria Saharova, Founding Partner at World Fund, said: “Quantum computing holds the potential to drive the breakthroughs needed to help solve the climate crisis. We are proud to lead this round and support IQM’s ambition to deliver quantum advantage to climate and sustainability goals. This investment aligns with our commitment to back only companies with the highest climate performance potential (CPP) so that our portfolio can save two gigatons of emissions yearly by 2040 – the equivalent to four percent of all global emissions. It gives us immense pleasure to support the amazing IQM team and its founders, who have meticulously and consistently built IQM with a strong on-premises business model focused on high-performance computing centers and national quantum labs. We look forward to being a part of their growth phase towards global leadership.”
Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers, said: “This funding underscores the importance of our mission: building quantum computers for the well-being of humankind. It also demonstrates the confidence in our business model and the continued trust in our team’s ability to build the future of quantum technologies. I am confident that we will continue to achieve all our product and business milestones and deliver world-class quantum computers to our customers.”
While IQM is heavily focused on climate work, it is far from the only company working in this area. Just last week, Pasqal and BASF announced a climate-focused collaboration.
Dan O’Shea has covered telecommunications and related topics including semiconductors, sensors, retail systems, digital payments and quantum computing/technology for over 25 years.