Finland startup IQM nabs €17.5 million for development of quantum computers

Finland startup IQM nabs €17.5 million for development of quantum computers

Published: 16-06-2020 11:03:17 | By: Bob Koigi | hits: 4786 | Tags:

IQM Finland Oy, a European company for quantum computer hardware, has been awarded a €2.5 million grant and up to €15 million of equity investment from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers, benefiting the industry and the society at large.

Together with Business Finland grants of €3.3 million that IQM received so far, the company is on a fast run with more than €20 million more raised in less than a year from its €11.4M seed round, summing in total to €32 million.

IQM has experienced amazing growth, set up a fully functional research lab in record time, and also hired the largest industrial quantum hardware team in Europe. With the help of this new €20M, IQM will hire one quantum engineer per week and take an important next step to commercialize the technology through co-design of quantum-computing hardware and applications.

Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder, IQM: "Quantum computers will be funded by European governments, supporting IQM´s expansion strategy to build quantum computers in Germany."

The Finnish government announced they will support the acquisition of a quantum computer with €20.7 million for the Finnish State Research center VTT.

Prof. Mikko Möttönen, Chief Scientist and co-founder of IQM: "It has been a mind-blowing forty-million past week for quantum computers in Finland. IQM staff is excited to work together with VTT, Aalto University, and CSC in this ecosystem."

This announcement was followed by the German government with €2 billion and to immediately commission the construction of at least two quantum computers. IQM sees this as an ideal point to expand its operations in Germany.

Prof. Enrique Solano, CEO, IQM Germany: "With our growing team in Munich, IQM will build co-design quantum computers for commercial applications and install testing facilities for quantum processors."

Quantum computing will radically transform the lives of billions of people. Applications range from game-changing invention of medicine and novel materials to the discovery of economic models and sustainable processes.

Dr. Goetz: "We are witnessing a boost in deep-tech funding in Europe, very important now. For a healthy growth of startups like IQM, we need all three funding channels: research grants to stimulate new key innovations, equity investments to grow the company and early adoption through acquisitions supported by the government. This allows to pool the risk while creating a new industry and business cases."

IQM is focusing on superconducting quantum processors, which are streamlined for commercial applications in a novel Co-Design approach.

Dr. Kuan Yen Tan, CTO and co-founder of IQM: "With the new funding and immense support from the Finnish and the European governments, we are ready to scale technologically. This brings us closer to quantum advantage thus providing tangible commercial value in near-term quantum computers."

IQM ranks in the top two per cent of all European deep tech startups applying for the highly competitive EIC Accelerator program

Thanks to its strong technology and business plan, IQM was one of the 72 to succeed in the very competitive selection process of the EIC. Altogether 3969 companies applied for this funding.

The new funding also supports IQM´s recent establishment of its new underground quantum computing infrastructure capable of housing the first European farm of quantum computers. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies. Brilliant quantum software engineers are also welcomed to join IQM.

www.meetiqm.com