Salesforce Ventures is participating in a US$27.4 million extension of the Series B fundraising round of Q-CTRL, a quantum infrastructure software and control engineering company.
The investment brings Q-CTRL’s total Series B tally to more than $52 million, the largest among quantum software companies, according to Pitchbook data. Salesforce Ventures joins Airbus Ventures as a Q-CTRL investor, with the latter having led Q-CTRL’s initial Series B fundraising of about $25 million back in 2021. This is believed to be the first investment by Salesforce Ventures in the quantum community, though Time Ventures, the fund operated by Salesforce co-founder, Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff, was announced in March 2022 as an investor in SandboxAQ after that firm was spun off from Alphabet.
Q-CTRL’s Series B addition comes as funding of quantum start-ups appears to be ramping up again, with Pasqal having just announced a €100 million equity Series B, and Oxford Ionics taking in a $36.5 million Series A round, among others.
Q-CTRL said plans to use its incoming funding to invest in its technology and product engineering and sales and marketing capacity. The company anticipates growing its team from 80 to approximately 120 in 2023 across offices in Sydney, Los Angeles and Berlin. The company claimed to have more than 8,000 users across its product portfolio and achieved more than $15 million in bookings between its quantum computing and quantum sensing divisions in 2022.
In addition to Salesforce Ventures, new investors include Alumni Ventures, ICM Allectus, Mindrock Capital, former General Dynamics partner Bill Lightfoot, and global rugby legend and Australian business leader John Eales. Continuing investors include Airbus Ventures, Data Collective, Horizons, Main Sequence Ventures, and Ridgeline Partners.
“Q-CTRL’s technology stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the industry in tackling the most foundational challenge in quantum computing,” said Robert Keith, Managing Director, Salesforce Ventures. “Q-CTRL’s products are essential for enterprise adoption of quantum computing, and their use of AI is delivering critical insights across hardware platforms that no one else can match. With their additional leadership in pioneering quantum sensors, we came to see Q-CTRL as one of the most consequential businesses in the sector for their ability to deliver value through quantum technology.”
Dan O’Shea has covered telecommunications and related topics including semiconductors, sensors, retail systems, digital payments and quantum computing/technology for over 25 years.