A B.C. company building a scalable, fault-tolerant, and unified quantum computing platform today announced substantial funding.
Vancouver-based Photonic, whose quantum tech utilizes photonically linked silicon spin qubits, has secured US$100 million.
The capital hails from a variety of contributors, including the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund in the UK, Inovia Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, and Microsoft.
Photonic is drawing attention—and investment—for its silicon spin-photon interface, which leverages the memory and computing capabilities of spins and the connectivity of photonics to build one of the world’s first scalable, networked quantum computers, according to Paul Terry, chief executive of the company.
RELATED: Photonic is hiring on Techtalent.ca
“Photonic’s game-changing approach to deliver on the decades-old promises of quantum computing continues to be fuelled by our committed investors and best-in-class employees,” says Terry. “The support of such knowledgeable investors who believe in our work is a testament to our team, our technology, and the direction we’re headed in.”
With headquarters in Canada and newer offices in the UK and US, Photonic now boasts more than 100 employees.
More important, however, is that Photonic is “solving one of the central challenges for scalable quantum computing,” according to Hermann Hauser, who cofounded Amadeus Capital.
“By linking qubits with photons on a silicon-based architecture, the power of quantum processing can be unleashed across a distributed computing network with confidence that error correction is able to keep pace,” the venture capitalist explains, adding: “This is an innovation with awesome potential.”
Photonic’s total funding raised to date now sits as US$140M—nearly $200M in Canadian dollars—having raised capital from BCI and others previously.
“Since our initial investment in Photonic, the company has reached several major technical milestones related to developing secure quantum solutions, while establishing key commercial partnerships,” stated Gordon J. Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at BCI. “As one of Photonic’s largest shareholders, BCI is excited to partner with its management team with the goal of developing one of the first fault-tolerant quantum computers in the world.”
In conjunction with Microsoft’s investment in Photonic, the companies also announced Photonic Collaborating with Microsoft to Power Global Quantum Ecosystem, and Photonic Accelerating Quantum Computing’s Transformational Benefits with New Architecture.
“Leveraging our technology combined with Microsoft’s extensive capabilities and global infrastructure, this collaboration positions our two companies to unlock the next stages of development in quantum supercomputing and quantum networking,” said Terry in a blog post.
The actively hiring company believes it nows stands “on the cusp of a technological inflection point within quantum computing,” according to the CEO.
“I’m incredibly excited about what the years ahead will bring,” he wrote, “both for Photonic and for the quantum industry overall.”
Photonic was founded in 2016.
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