Palo Alto-headquartered quantum software developer QC Ware has raised $25 million in Series B funding from a clutch of investors led by investment firm, Koch Disruptive Technologies and polymer company Covestro, the company announced last week.
The company will be using the fresh round of funds for expansion of its team of quantum scientists And for the development of its flagship quantum computing cloud service known as QC Ware Forge.
“With a hyper-focus on practical quantum computing we will use the new investment to align the Forge software platform with the great headway we’ve been making in global markets,” said company CEO, Matt Johnson.
Other investors included Samsung Ventures and returning investors Citi, the D. E. Shaw group, and Pegasus Tech Ventures. As a result of this fresh funding round, Navin Maharaj, Director at Koch Disruptive Technologies and Sandeep Arora, ICG Head of Digital and ICG Chief Investment Officer at Citi will get positions on the Board of Directors of the company.
The present
The company counts Fortune 500 companies among its growing customer base. Some of the names included are the likes of Airbus, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Aisin Group, BMW Group, Equinor, Goldman Sachs, and Total.
Companies across the world have begun explorations of the quantum computing arena for practical applications taking into account the near-term developments in quantum computing hardware.
The future
The size of this nascent market was estimated at a mere $89 million in 2016 and was expected to grow to $949 million by 2025. The Covid-19 pandemic and the emerging geopolitical jousts have accelerated national investments into this area as it offers an almost unbeatable advantage over classical computing. In recent months, investments in the sector have also picked pace in response to its competitive advantage.
QC Ware’s work can significantly reduce the time for the real-world implementation of practical quantum computing. Consulting firm McKinsey expects that there could be between 2,000 and 5,000 quantum computers worldwide by 2030, opening up radical possibilities in the areas of quantum machine learning, quantum Monte Carlo simulations, quantum optimisation, linear algebra and chemistry simulations.
