Google and Softbank invest millions in quantum start-up

QuEra wants to make quantum computers with neutral atoms suitable for practical use. Google and its Quantum AI team, Softbank's Vision Fund and Valor Equity Partners are now getting on board with the concept. In a so-called Series B financing round, they are bringing up to 230 million US dollars into the start-up together with the existing investors. Softbank also owns ARM, for example.

170 million will flow in immediately. The remaining 60 million is linked to milestones that QuEra has to meet. If these milestones are met, the company will receive a total investment of 277 million euros: the first financing round of 17 million in 2021 and the second of 30 million in 2023. In addition, there will be millions in revenue from orders, for example from the Japanese and British governments.

The Bloomberg news agency reports, based on an anonymous source, that QuEra's value in the new financing round is estimated to be between 750 million and one billion US dollars.

Neutral atoms without cryogenic cooling

QuEra was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Its quantum technology is based on so-called Rydberg states as qubits.

These are highly excited states of individual atoms in which the outer electrons are far away from the atomic nucleus. They are not split off like ions. The systems use laser pulses to push the Rydberg atoms against each other so that they can influence each other. The positioning of the qubits makes it possible to program the machine.

Unlike other approaches, no complex cryo-cooling close to 0 Kelvin is necessary here. This should simplify scaling to thousands of qubits. The University of Stuttgart is also researching this technology.

Google's Quantum AI team, on the other hand, relies on superconducting qubits. Even though the approach is clearly different, the new investors also want to play a technical role in QuEra's development.

(mma)