IQM Finland Oy raises $20.7 million to introduce quantum computers to society

Finnish startup IQM has raised $20.7 million on Jun 12, 2020, from a Series A round: $18 million equity investment round from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers and $2.7 million from the Business Finland government agency. IQM has raised a total of $34M in funding over three rounds, Crunchbase reports. 

IQM is the European leader for superconducting quantum computers. They provide the hardware stack for a quantum computer, using different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies. 

IQM was founded in 2019 by the CEO Dr. Jan Goetz, CSO Prof Mikko Möttönen, COO Dr. Juha Vartiainen, and CTO Dr. Kuan Yen Tan. This is a spin-out from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Since spinning out, they have become the leading European quantum computing hardware company with operations in Finland and Germany.

The company is going to use the fresh funds for the development of quantum computers, benefitting the industry and society at large. They want to employ one quantum engineer per week and take an important next step to commercialize the technology through co-design of quantum-computing hardware and applications. Also, the new funding will support IQM’s recent formation of its new underground quantum computing infrastructure capable of housing the first European acreage of quantum computers. 

 Dr. Jan Goetz. the CEO of IQM commented:

“We are witnessing a boost in deep-tech funding in Europe, very important now. For the healthy growth of startups like IQM, we need all three funding channels: (1) research grants to stimulate new key innovations, (2) equity investments to grow the company, (3) early adoption through acquisitions supported by the government. This allows us to pool the risk while creating a new industry and business cases.”

Dr. Kuan Yen Tan, CTO and co-founder of IQM added:

“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.”