University of Bristol quantum computing spinout PsiQuantum has collected $215m in funding from investors including Microsoft.
PsiQuantum, a US-based quantum computing technology spinout of University of Bristol, has received $215m in funding from investors including technology firm Microsoft, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Playground Global, Atomico, Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures and BlackRock Advisors have also invested in the business. Microsoft participated through its corporate venture capital division, M12.
Founded in 2016, PsiQuantum is working on a commercial quantum computer that will offer a million qubits – the point at which the technology would become general-purpose and useful to businesses. The spinout aims to build the machine within a few years.
Qubits, or quantum bits, can be put into three states – on (or 1), off (or 0) and both at the same time – as opposed to bits in today’s computers, which can only be 1 or 0.
This property means quantum computers could store vastly more data and run calculations at a speed far beyond that currently possible even with supercomputers, reducing processes that now would take centuries to potentially just minutes.
Global University Venturing previously took an in-depth look at quantum computing technology in its October 2019 issue.
PsiQuantum was co-founded by chief executive Jeremy O’Brien, then a professor of physics and electrical engineering at University of Bristol and director of its Centre for Quantum Photonics.
Its co-founders additionally include chief technologist Mark Thompson, professor of quantum photonics at Bristol, and Terry Rudolph, professor of quantum physics at Imperial College London.
Peter Shadbolt, who received his PhD from Bristol before becoming a postdoctoral research in Imperial College London’s Centre for Controlled Quantum Dynamics, is also a co-founder.
PsiQuantum reportedly attracted $230m in funding from an unnamed venture capital fund founded by Andy Rubin, who had previously founded Playground Global, as well as a range of unnamed investors in November 2019.
Bloomberg’s article, based on an interview with O’Brien, however makes no mention of the November round and it is unclear whether the earlier report was based on incomplete data about the $215m investment.
