Funding rounds are some of the most widely read articles on The Quantum Insider’s news website (with examples here, here, here, and here just to prove it), so with that in mind, we thought it a good idea to give our readers an update on the top five companies that have the most external funding up to the summer of 2022, as per our data platform.
External funding is important but it doesn’t paint the whole picture. Many quantum computing companies operating within larger corporates will be funded from balance sheet cash and therefore do not need to take external financing.
The beauty of The Quantum Insider’s proprietary data platform is how easy it has made extracting data on the ecosystem. Instead of scouring companies’ websites, press releases and exclusive coverage (though we do plenty of the last two) on the internet for hours upon end, we simply log in and let rip.
Top Funded Quantum Companies
Now, by the time this piece is published — due to the fluidity of the industry and unpredictability of funding announcements — it could be yesterday’s news! We should also note that some companies’ total funding is hard to track. For example, Quantinuum benefits from funding from Honeywell in addition to the funding of of Cambridge Quantum before the merger with HQS. Sandbox AQ’s total funding amount is a much debated number.
Here are the top-funded quantum companies as of 2022, according to our data platform.
1. IonQ
With some $684 million raised in funding since it was founded (though $600 million of that came from the company’s SPAC in 2021), IonQ and its trapped-ion quantum technology will support a broad array of applications across a variety of industries.
Some of the VCs that have invested in the College Park, Maryland-based company founded by Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim with $2 million in Seed funding back in 2015 include New Enterprise Associates, A&E Investments, Airbus Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Fidelity Investments, Hyundai Motor Company, and Kia Corporation.
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2. Sandbox AQ
Definitely the new kid on the block, Sandbox AQ is a Silicon Valley company harnessing the exponential power of AI and Quantum, hence the AQ in the company’s name. Some of the team originated at Alphabet Inc. in 2016, becoming an independent entity in 2022.
Led by CEO Jack Hidary, Sandbox AQ focuses on sensing, security and optimization. The business reportedly raised “nine figures” in March of this year but this was undisclosed. We have captured $500 million based on the latest rumours.
Investors include Breyer Capital, Eric Schmidt, Guggenheim Investments, In-Q-Tel, and Paladin Capital Group.
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3. PsiQuantum
In third place is PsiQuantum, a Palo Alto, California-based company aiming to build the first general-purpose quantum computer using silicon photonic qubits.
PsiQuantum has raised $665 million in funding since it was founded in 2015 by Jeremy O’Brien, Terry Rudolph, Pete Shadbolt, and Mark Thompson. Its latest funding cycle, a $450-million Series D round which included the investors BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, M12, Blackbird Ventures, and Temasek, was completed in July 2021.
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4. D-Wave
As old as Sandbox AQ is new, D-Wave Systems is the oldest pure-play quantum computing (QC) company on the planet, having been founded in 1999 by Haig Farris, Geordie Rose, Bob Wiens, and Alexandre Zagoskin.
Based in Burnaby, Canada, D-Wave develops, manufactures and delivers both annealing and gate-model quantum computing systems, software and services.
To date, D-Wave has raised north of $554 million. The latest — a Grant round from the Government of Canada — came in March this year.
Investors in the QC pioneer include 180 Degree Capital, Aegis Group Partners, BC Investment Management Corporation, and Bezos Expeditions.
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5. Quantinuum
Quantinuum is the product of a combination between Cambridge Quantum — a British quantum software and OS company, and Honeywell Quantum Solutions (HQS), which has been carved out of US parent company Honeywell (specializing in building ion trap quantum computers).
Founded in 2021 and led by CEO Ilyas Khan and President and COO Tony Uttley, Quantinuum’s technology consists of trapped-ion quantum hardware and open-source software.
Quantinuum raised $270 million in funding from Honeywell through a convertible note as part of the merger deal. In addition it took an undisclosed investment from IBM. Prior to the merger, we understand Cambridge Quantum took at least $70 million of investment from angel investors, Honeywell Venture Capital, S28 Capital, DCVC any others. We therefore expect that – even though Quantinuum may appear number 5 on this list – once you include these various undisclosed rounds the actual capital invested into the business historically could top $500 million
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