Q-CTRL becomes quantum unicorn as Salesforce Ventures leads $290M round
What's the deal? Q-CTRL, a quantum infrastructure-software company, has raised $290 million in a Series C round led by Salesforce Ventures, with Bullhound CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Jared Kushner's Affinity PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also taking large stakes. The round values the Sydney-based company at more than $1 billion, making it the quantum sector's newest unicorn.
Who else is in? The oversubscribed round — expanded twice on investor demand — also brought in new backers AMD Ventures, EDGE Group, MPower Partners, Australia's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, and SPARX Asset Management, alongside returning investors Alpha Edison, Alumni Ventures, DCVC, In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence, Ridgeline, Salus Ventures, and Square Peg.
What's the endgame? Founded in Sydney in 2017 by Michael Biercuk, Q-CTRL builds error-suppression software that improves the performance of existing quantum hardware. Its Fire Opal firmware is offered natively through IBM Quantum, while a separate division sells quantum sensors for GPS-denied navigation to defense customers in the US, UK, and Australia.
Why now? The financing dwarfs Q-CTRL's earlier $113 million Series B, which closed in October 2024 led by GP Bullhound with Salesforce Ventures, DCVC, Alpha Edison, and Lockheed Martin Ventures among the backers. This is the first time Salesforce Ventures has led a Q-CTRL round, having backed the company since 2023.
The signal: The round is unusually large for a quantum-software pure-play, and it lands amid a surge of capital into the sector. Recent hardware deals include Oratomic's $475 million round and Universal Quantum's Series A of more than $100 million, while Quantum Motion raised $160 million in May. A bet this size on enabling software — not just competing processors — signals investor appetite, though it does not establish commercial adoption or near-term quantum advantage.
Image credit: Q-CTRL
