$300m raise for Quantinuum at $5bn pre-money valuation creates super-unicorn for Cambridge

The raise was revealed by Quantinuum major shareholder – US and global giant Honeywell – which has invested as co-anchor alongside JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui & Co., Ltd and Amgen.

Quantinuum is a result of the November 2021 combination of two global leaders in quantum computing – Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum, which was this medium’s Business of the Year in 2021.

As part of this fund raise – believed to be a pre-IPO round ahead of a stockmarket float – Honeywell and other existing backers of Cambridge Quantum, who previously invested around $325m in Quantinuum, have exchanged their convertible instruments for the same class of preferred stock raised in this fresh round. 

This brings the total capital raised by Quantinuum since the merger to approximately $625m, although the total capital deployed into Quantinuum – including funds invested by Honeywell into Honeywell Quantum Solutions and the investment by investors including JSR Corp into Cambridge Quantum – is closer to $1.3bn according to company sources.

The founder of Cambridge Quantum and inaugural CEO of Quantinuum, Ilyas Khan, is the executive whose vision helped fashion the largest and most advanced integrated quantum computing company in the world via Quantinuum.

He is believed to retain a shareholding of more than 20 per cent in Quantinuum. Khan was also Chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and is a Leader in Residence at Cambridge’s Judge Business School.

Khan tells me: “This is a fabulous success story for Cambridge, where we have our global co-headquarters (Broomfield, Colorado is the US flagship) – another multibillion company produced within the Cluster and a multi unicorn.

“We have gathered the validation of respected global investors such as JP Morgan, Mitsui and Amgen and, perhaps most importantly, we have proved that it IS possible in the UK to build a globally significant deep tech company and that the UK is not just about startups that build ‘apps.’

“Our success also provides proof that the UK is a leader in quantum computing – and that it is possible to achieve success and growth by refusing to compromise on a long-term vision.

“This is possible when there is alignment between investors and the business itself. I am lucky to have shareholders and investors who understand and believe in our scientific, technical and product roadmap.

“It is also encouraging to know that our current fundraising is evidence that private financing markets are very much active for the right opportunity and the right companies.”

Honeywell, headquartered in North Carolina, announced the new fundraising which further supports Quantinuum’s scale-up agenda. The money raised represents Quantinuum’s first equity funding round since Cambridge Quantum Computing and Honeywell Quantum Solutions merged. 

The funds will be used to accelerate the path towards achieving the world’s first universal fault-tolerant quantum computers, while also extending Quantinuum’s software offering to enhance commercial applicability.

JPMorgan Chase has one of the world’s most highly regarded specialist teams working on quantum technologies within the financial services industry and has been working with Quantinuum and its predecessor companies since 2020. 

The company was one of the earliest experimental users of Quantinuum’s H-Series quantum processor and is also one of the most active corporate partners that employs Quantinuum’s software development kit, known as ‘TKET’ which has millions of users across the world, according to the company.

Lori Beer, Global Chief Information Officer at JPMorgan Chase commented: “Financial services has been identified as one of the first industries that will benefit from quantum technologies. As such, we have been investing in quantum research and our team of experts – led by Dr. Marco Pistoia – have made groundbreaking discoveries, partnering with quantum computing leaders like Quantinuum. 

“We look forward to continuing to work together to positively impact our businesses, customers and the industry at large.”

Toru Matsui, Representative Director, Senior Executive Managing Officer and Chief Digital Information Officer of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. added: “We are very pleased with our capital contribution to support Quantinuum's new ventures in fault-tolerant quantum computing and quantum software development, which are ushering in the ‘Quantum Era.’ 

“Through our strategic alliance and distributorship agreement, Mitsui will combine efforts with Quantinuum to expedite the introduction of their cutting-edge solutions to the Japanese and Asia-Pacific markets.”

Quantinuum’s technologies are used by leading companies including Airbus, BMW Group, Honeywell, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui and Thales. In collaboration, these organisations are exploring how to engineer and scale quantum capabilities to help solve some of world’s most challenging problems – from designing and manufacturing hydrogen cell batteries for transportation, to developing materials to sequester carbon safely from the atmosphere to support the world’s energy transition. 

Quantinuum is also at the forefront of developing Quantum Natural Language Processing to ensure that the next generation of AI is scalable, responsible and fit for purpose.

Rajeeb Hazra, CEO of Quantinuum says: “The confidence in our business demonstrated through this investment by our longstanding strategic partners and industry leaders, is a clear indication of the value we will continue to create with the world’s highest performing quantum computers, groundbreaking middleware to accelerate the developer ecosystem and innovative application software to revolutionise fields like cryptography, computational chemistry, and AI.”

Darius Adamczyk, Executive Chairman of Honeywell and Chairman of the Board of Quantinuum adds: “The successful completion of this investment round is a testament to Quantinuum’s evolution and maturation in the quantum space.

“The news signals the extent to which Quantinuum is uniquely positioned to commercialise its innovation and continue its leadership in a rapidly growing market. We look forward to welcoming these partners as investors in Quantinuum, as we all look forward to the tremendous opportunities in the years to come.”

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive placement agent to Quantinuum in connection with the financing. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US acted as external legal counsel.

Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With almost 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.

Very recently – on January 10 – Quantinuum announced that it had been selected by the Japanese national agency Riken to provide on-premises access to its H series quantum computers.

Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado and Cambridge UK, Quantinuum also has offices in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., and London.