Nobel laureate's quantum startup Qolab lands $54.2M Series B led by UC Investments
What's the deal? Qolab, a superconducting quantum computing hardware company based in Santa Barbara, California, has raised $54.2 million in Series B financing. UC InvestmentsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer, led the round, with participation from Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Octave VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Phoenix Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The total includes the conversion of $12.6 million in convertible securities and a commitment for a further $10 million in future convertible securities.
What's the endgame? Qolab plans to use the funds to develop scalable superconducting quantum systems, expand semiconductor collaborations, and push toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. It works with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Santa Barbara researchers.
Why now? The startup unveiled the round at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where co-founder and chief technology officer John MartinisDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → attended as a recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. "Quantum computing is entering a new era, where decades of scientific research are beginning to translate into technologies capable of addressing real-world challenges," Martinis said.
The raise builds on a $16 million Series A in December 2024 led by Octave Ventures, plus strategic investments from Applied VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (Applied MaterialsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →) and Western DigitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to scale manufacturing of superconducting qubits.
By the numbers: The round ranks in the 91st percentile by size among 539 Series B rounds for US companies in its industry. That makes it a sizeable raise for an early-stage hardware startup, if mid-range against the sector's largest deals.
What could go wrong? Qolab's absolute size trails the sector's biggest bets. Software-focused Q-CTRL expanded its Series B to $113 million in 2024, while neutral-atom player QuEraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → reported a Series B above $230 million backed by Google and SoftBankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Building fault-tolerant hardware remains capital-intensive and technically unproven at scale.
The signal: Private capital is flowing into quantum hardware, and academic-linked money is a growing part of it. "We seek transformative investment opportunities that we believe will speed scientific discovery and innovation," said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, UC's chief investment officer. Qolab's round is notable less for its size than for its backers, reinforcing superconducting hardware as a core pillar in the race to practical quantum computing.
Read more: markets.financialcontent.com
Image credit: OJB Quantum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
