With $3.1B Valuation, What’s Ahead for PsiQuantum?
It is clear computing is in for a revolution if a company can have unicorn status with its main product still a few years away. In years past this mismatch in funding to goods would seem absurd but quantum computing is setting new trends, especially among VCs lately.
If we had been placing bets about which quantum computing startup would be the first to raise a billion dollars three years ago, D-Wave and Rigetti might have topped the list. The former has raised $256 million since its inception in 1999 and since its inception in 2013, Rigetti has rounded up just shy of $200 million.
So why is it that a quantum upstart few have heard of has managed to capture $665 million to date? It might have something to do with manufacturing scalability and reliability, as we described in a chat with GlobalFoundries and the startup, PsiQuantum, in May. It might also be because the high sights they’ve set—building a fault-tolerant, million-qubit quantum system—seem to have grounding in manufacturable, scalable reality with GF as a partner that has already made its own investments in superconducting materials, photonics, and quantum system making.
PsiQuantum announced $450 million in Series D this morning, with investors including Microsoft’s VC firm, M12, and entrants including Ballie Gifford, along with Blackbird Ventures and Temasek with BlackRock leading. The next step for companies in understood segments is often going public but for a quantum computing company, especially one that has not yet brought products to the broader market, that might be a bit of a stretch.
