Q-CTRL has raised US$290 million (A$425m) in a Series C that makes the Sydney quantum software scaleup the country’s first quantum unicorn, valued at more than US$1 billion (A$1bn)
The round led by existing backer Salesforce Ventures, with the federal government’s National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) chipping in $70m, alongside chipmaker AMD’s venture arm and Jared Kushner’s PE firm Affinity Partners, SPARX Asset Management, and returning investors including Alpha Edison, Alumni Ventures, Bullhound Capital, DCVC, In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salesforce Ventures, Salus Ventures, and Square Peg.
Q-CTRL says it expanded the round twice to meet investor demand and it’s a record private raise to for a quantum software business. The funds will be used to help it sell its computing software to finance and energy companies and get its navigation tech into more aircraft and autonomous vehicles.
It’s nearly four years since Salesforce Ventures first backed Q-CTRL in February 2023, leading a $39m Series B extension. That round, worth $166m all up, took nearly three years to close, kicking off $35 million in late 2021 and closed in October 2024 when the UK’s Bullhound led an $88 million top-up. There was also a $22 Series A in 2019.
Flying without GPS
Q-CTRL was founded in 2017 by University of Sydney quantum physicist Michael Biercuk to tackle a core problem with quantum computers. They’re so sensitive to interference that errors can creep into a calculation before it finishes. Q-CTRL uses AI to suppress those errors. Developers us the software on IBM quantum computers to simulate how electrons behave in materials.
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Meanwhile Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal navigation system measures tiny variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and matches them to a map, giving pilots a way to work out where they are when GPS is jammed or unavailable.
Last year the company landed two contracts worth a combined $38 million (US$24.4m) under US defence research agency DARPA’s quantum sensors program, working with Lockheed Martin. Airbus is also testing the tech.
“Q-CTRL is one of the few quantum companies with real customers and real revenue,” said Bullhound Capital founding partner and Q-CTRL board member Per Roman.
Salesforce Ventures partner Robert Keith said getting useful output from quantum machines has been the challenge the sector faces.
“Q-CTRL solves that with AI-powered control software, and the proof is already public: a materials simulation on IBM hardware that any developer can now call directly from the IBM Quantum Platform, and the first quantum navigation system qualified for safety of flight,” he said.
“That software layer will decide whether quantum shows up in enterprise data centers this decade.”
New York-born Biercuk moved to Australia in 2010 and remains a US citizen. Q-CTRL is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in several US cities, as well as Japan, Germany and the UK.
Q-CTRL has raised US$290 million (A$425m) in a Series C that makes the Sydney quantum software scaleup the country’s first quantum unicorn, valued at more than US$1 billion (A$1bn)
The round led by existing backer Salesforce Ventures, with the federal government’s National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) chipping in $70m, alongside chipmaker AMD’s venture arm and Jared Kushner’s PE firm Affinity Partners, SPARX Asset Management, and returning investors including Alpha Edison, Alumni Ventures, Bullhound Capital, DCVC, In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salesforce Ventures, Salus Ventures, and Square Peg.
Q-CTRL says it expanded the round twice to meet investor demand and it’s a record private raise to for a quantum software business. The funds will be used to help it sell its computing software to finance and energy companies and get its navigation tech into more aircraft and autonomous vehicles.
It’s nearly four years since Salesforce Ventures first backed Q-CTRL in February 2023, leading a $39m Series B extension. That round, worth $166m all up, took nearly three years to close, kicking off $35 million in late 2021 and closed in October 2024 when the UK’s Bullhound led an $88 million top-up. There was also a $22 Series A in 2019.
Flying without GPS
Q-CTRL was founded in 2017 by University of Sydney quantum physicist Michael Biercuk to tackle a core problem with quantum computers. They’re so sensitive to interference that errors can creep into a calculation before it finishes. Q-CTRL uses AI to suppress those errors. Developers us the software on IBM quantum computers to simulate how electrons behave in materials.
Get the best of Startup Daily straight to your inbox
By continuing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Meanwhile Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal navigation system measures tiny variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and matches them to a map, giving pilots a way to work out where they are when GPS is jammed or unavailable.
Last year the company landed two contracts worth a combined $38 million (US$24.4m) under US defence research agency DARPA’s quantum sensors program, working with Lockheed Martin. Airbus is also testing the tech.
“Q-CTRL is one of the few quantum companies with real customers and real revenue,” said Bullhound Capital founding partner and Q-CTRL board member Per Roman.
Salesforce Ventures partner Robert Keith said getting useful output from quantum machines has been the challenge the sector faces.
“Q-CTRL solves that with AI-powered control software, and the proof is already public: a materials simulation on IBM hardware that any developer can now call directly from the IBM Quantum Platform, and the first quantum navigation system qualified for safety of flight,” he said.
“That software layer will decide whether quantum shows up in enterprise data centers this decade.”
New York-born Biercuk moved to Australia in 2010 and remains a US citizen. Q-CTRL is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in several US cities, as well as Japan, Germany and the UK.
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