Quantum computing venture backed by Jeff Bezos will leap into public trading with $1.2B valuation

(GeekWire) GeekWire contributing editor Alan Boyle, who is an award-winning science writer describes the D-wave announcement to go public and is summarized here by Inside Quantum Technology News.
Burnaby, B.C.-based D-Wave Systems, the quantum computing company that counts Jeff Bezos among its investors and NASA among its customers, has struck a deal to go public with a $1.2 billion valuation.
The deal involves a combination with DPMC Capital, a publicly traded special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It’s expected to bring in $300 million in gross proceeds from DPMC’s trust account, plus $40 million in gross proceeds from investors participating in a PIPE arrangement. (PIPE stands for “private investment in public equity.”)
The SPAC deal has already been cleared by the boards of directors for D-Wave and DPCM Capital. If the transaction proceeds as expected, with approval by DPCM’s stockholders, it should close by midyear. The result would be a combined company called D-Wave Quantum Inc. that would remain headquartered in Burnaby — a suburb of Vancouver, B.C. — and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the QBTS stock symbol.
Among the investors involved in the PIPE transaction are PSP Investments, NEC Corp., Goldman Sachs, Yorkville Advisors and Aegis Group Partners. Other longtime D-Wave investors include Bezos Expeditions as well as In-Q-Tel, a venture capital fund backed by the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
In what was described as an innovative move, the SPAC deal sets aside a bonus pool of 5 million shares for DPCM’s non-redeeming public stockholders.
D-Wave says it will use the fresh funding to accelerate its delivery of in-production quantum applications for its customers, and to build on a foundation of more than 200 U.S. patents. The company is aiming to widen its offerings beyond quantum annealing by developing more versatile gate-model quantum computers.