Cambridge trailblazer Quantinuum has been valued at £4 billion by an equity fundraising round of around £237 million.
The company’s major shareholder Honeywell, which previously invested around $325m in Quantinuum, is said to have exchanged its convertible instruments for the same class of preferred stock raised in the latest round. JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui and Amgen joined the round.
It represents Quantinuum’s first equity funding round since Cambridge Quantum Computing and Honeywell Quantum Solutions merged in November 2021 and takes the companies’ combined investment to date to around $1.3bn.
Quantinuum has a US headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado. It said the funds will be used to accelerate the path towards achieving the world’s first universal fault-tolerant quantum computers, while enhancing the commercial applicability of its software.
Reports suggest that the company is preparing for a flotation on the stock market. Cambridge Quantum Computing founder Ilyas Khan, chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and a leader in residence at the Cambridge Judge Business School, retains a shareholding of more than 20%.
“The successful completion of this investment round is a testament to Quantinuum’s evolution and maturation in the quantum space,” said Darius Adamczyk, executive chairman of Honeywell and chairman of the board of Quantinuum.
“Today’s news signals the extent to which Quantinuum is uniquely positioned to commercialise its innovation and continue their leadership in a rapidly growing market.
“We look forward to welcoming these partners as investors in Quantinuum, as we all look forward to the tremendous opportunities in the years to come.”
JPMorgan Chase has one of the world’s most highly regarded specialist teams working on quantum technologies within the financial services industry and has been working with Quantinuum and its predecessor companies since 2020.
Lori Beer, global chief information officer at JPMorgan Chase, said: “Financial services has been identified as one of the first industries that will benefit from quantum technologies.
“As such, we have been investing in quantum research and our team of experts – led by Dr Marco Pistoia – have made groundbreaking discoveries, partnering with quantum computing leaders like Quantinuum.
“We look forward to continuing to work together to positively impact our businesses, customers and the industry at large.”
Quantinuum’s technologies are also used by the likes of Airbus, BMW Group, HSBC, Mitsui and Thales.
In collaboration, these organisations are exploring how to engineer and scale quantum capabilities to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems – from designing and manufacturing hydrogen cell batteries for transportation, to developing materials to sequester carbon safely from the atmosphere to support the world’s energy transition.