Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), a spin-out company from Oxford’s Department of Physics has announced investment of £38 million (US $46.45 million) in the first close of an ongoing Series A funding round. The investment is the UK’s largest ever Series A in quantum computing and will accelerate the company’s research and development and fuel their expansion in Asia-Pacific.
OQC’s patented 3D architecture, the Coaxmon, combines scalability with performance and the funding follows the February 2022 launch of OQC’s latest system, Lucy, on Amazon Braket – making it the first European quantum company on AWS. The company’s technology can be used by businesses in financial services, pharma and logistics to increase their competitive edge.
Dr Peter Leek from the Department of Physics led the research to develop the quantum technology and is the founder of OQC; he comments: ‘This is a really great moment for OQC and I am hugely proud of the team. Their work so far culminating in providing the first European quantum computer service on Amazon Braket has been so impressive, and this new funding will enable them to really scale the technology and the business over the next few years to bring useful quantum computing to the world.’
Ilana Wisby is CEO of OQC and she adds, ‘This initial close is the UK’s largest ever Series A in quantum computing, demonstrating the confidence our investors have in our ability to lead the global quantum industry. It is testament to the significant technological and commercial progress we have achieved in recent months, thanks to our world-class team. It is also the first step in our international expansion, bringing quantum to our customers’ fingertips – wherever they are in the world.’
The Series A round was co-led by Lansdowne Partners, one of Europe’s leading investment firms, and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), Japan’s largest deeptech VC fund. British Patient Capital and existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) and Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC) also participated.