PsiQuantum has become the first unicorn in Imec.xpand’s portfolio as it fetched a valuation of more than $3bn.
PsiQuantum, a US-based quantum computing technology developer based on research at University of Bristol and Imperial College London, has completed a $450m series D round led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.
Software provider Microsoft’s corporate venture capital unit, M12, also backed the round, as did Baillie Gifford, Blackbird Ventures and Singaporean government-owned investment firm Temasek.
PsiQuantum is developing what it expects to be the first commercially viable quantum computer, utilising a system where photonic circuits are patterned onto a silicon chip and used to manipulate photons.
The company began producing silicon photonic and electronic chips for its Q1 system in May 2020. The round valued it at $3.15bn according to Silicon Valley Business Journal, and it has now raised $665m since it was founded in 2016, it said, although the numbers do not add up.
The valuation makes it the first unicorn in the portfolio of Imec.xpand, the venture capital fund set up by research institute Imec. The fund had invested an undisclosed amount in 2019, with partner Tom Vanhoutte calling it a “significant investment” in a recent interview with De Tijd.
This suggests Imec.xpand was one of the unnamed investors in November 2019, when PsiQuantum secured a reported $230m in funding from an unnamed venture capital fund founded by Andy Rubin, and undisclosed others.
M12 had joined BlackRock, Playground Global, Atomico, Founders Fund and Redpoint Ventures in a $215m round for PsiQuantum in April 2020.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
