IonQ announced it has secured funding from Lockheed Martin, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) and Cambium, a new multi-stage venture capital firm focused on investments in the future of computational paradigms. This funding contributes to IonQ’s Series B round, bringing the company’s total amount raised to $84 million. Additionally, IonQ today announced the addition of four new advisory board members.
IonQ’s trapped-ion quantum computers are increasingly touted as pioneering systems in the industry and have demonstrated performance benchmarks. With this new investment, IonQ officials report the company is well positioned to lead the hardware field into the future.
Learn more about different types of qubit implementations here.
“This additional backing marks a watershed moment for IonQ,” says Peter Chapman, IonQ CEO & President. “With investors and advisors at the forefront of fueling the growth of quantum computing, we are well-positioned to move the world forward through the power of quantum.”
In addition, IonQ is thrilled to announce additions to its advisory team, including:
- Umesh Vazirani, Roger A. Strauch Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and the co-director of the Berkeley Quantum Computation Center (BQIC)
- David Wineland, Nobel Laureate and Philip H. Knight Distinguished Research Chair, University of Oregon, Department of Physics
- Margaret (Peg) Williams, former Senior Vice President of Research and Development, Cray Inc.
- Kenneth Brown, Associate Professor at Duke University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Through their work, the advisors will continue to provide direct support around IonQ’s algorithmic development and benchmarking, hardware design and efforts on trapped-ion atomic physics.
“Lockheed Martin has been an early supporter of quantum computing research,” said Christopher Moran, Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “And we believe trapped-ion technology offers the potential for outstanding coherence and operation fidelity. As government customers are increasingly interested in quantum computing systems, we believe this investment will allow us to remain at the forefront of quantum computing.”
The sentiment was echoed by Jan Westerhues, investment partner at RBVC.
“Since our investment, IonQ continues to impress us with its stellar scientific and business team,” said Westerhues. “We are proud to be part of commercial quantum computers becoming a reality.”
Quantum computing is continuing to attract major funding as the technology becomes more apparent.
“We are excited to work with IonQ to bring quantum computers to the market,” says Cambium Managing Partner Landon Downs. “Quantum computers will fundamentally change what is possible to compute, and we believe that IonQ is well positioned for both near-term and long-term success.”
IonQ previously announced $55M in funding from Samsung Electronics, Mubadala Capital, GV, Amazon, and NEA. The company has made its quantum computers available via the cloud through strategic partnerships with Amazon AWS Braket and Microsoft Azure Quantum.
