Quantum computing company Quantinuum has secured $300m in funding at a pre-money valuation of $5bn (£3.9bn) in one of the first sizeable funding rounds of the year.
Quantinuum provides both software and hardware in the quantum computing space.
The round was anchored by JPMorgan Chase, which has previously partnered with Quantinuum to apply quantum computing technology in the financial services sector.
Quantinuum also received funds from Mitsui & Co., Amgen and Honeywell.
Quantinuum was formed out of a merger between UK-based Cambridge Quantum Computing and US-based Honeywell Quantum Solutions in 2021.
The deal combined Cambridge Quantum’s quantum computing software with Honeywell’s quantum computer hardware.
It is Quantinuum’s first equity funding round since the merger and brings the total raised by the quantum computing firm to around $625m. Honeywell remains Quantinuum’s majority shareholder.
Rajeeb Hazra, CEO of Quantinuum, said: “The confidence in our business demonstrated through this investment by our longstanding strategic partners and industry leaders is a clear indication of the value we will continue to create with the world’s highest performing quantum computers, groundbreaking middleware to accelerate the developer ecosystem and innovative application software to revolutionise fields like cryptography, computational chemistry, and AI.”
Quantinuum works with the likes of Airbus, BMW Group and HSBC to explore how quantum computing can tackle business problems. It is based in the UK, US, Japan and Germany.
Quantum computers use subatomic particles that can exist in more than one state, which means they can carry out multiple calculations at once compared to the linear calculations of classical computers.
This promises superior computing power that could revolutionise sectors such as finance and drug discovery.
“Financial services has been identified as one of the first industries that will benefit from quantum technologies,” said Lori Beer, global chief information officer at JPMorgan Chase.
“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.”
Last year, the UK published a national quantum strategy that will provide £2.5bn in public funding over 10 years.
Listen: Why quantum computing is the next industrial revolution, with the CPO of Quantinuum