Xanadu wants to bring the first commercially available quantum computers to market.
uantum computing company Xanadu has announced the closing of a $100 million USD Series C round that brought its valuation to $1 billion USD, crowning the Toronto startup as Canada’s latest unicorn.
The funding was led by Georgian with participation from Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Forward Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), along with previous Xanadu investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Capricorn, BDC Capital, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson founding partner Tim Draper.
“The continued support from top-tier investors in this uncertain economic climate is a testament to the belief in [Xanadu].”
– Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu CEO and founder
Xanadu reportedly tripled its valuation, which The Globe and Mail reported as an estimate of $400 million last year. This comes amid the continued dip in startup valuations as inflation, geopolitical issues, and changing consumer trends negatively impact the private and public markets.
Xanadu claimed it has seen growth this year because it launched the world’s first cloud-deployed photonic quantum computer; leads the development of an open-source software library for quantum computing; and established partnerships with global enterprises.
SVB provided about $10 million USD in venture debt, as reported by The Globe and Mail. The publication also noted that Xanadu’s valuation tripled compared to its previous raise last year.
To date, Xanadu has raised $250 million USD. This comprises a $100 million USD Series B round last year, $32 million in Series A financing in 2019, and $9 million in seed capital in 2018.
Founded in 2016 by CEO Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu was established with a mission of using photons, or particles of light, to perform exceptionally fast and complex computations at room temperature.
According to Xanadu, its next goal is to build a fault-tolerant and error-corrected quantum computer capable of scaling up to one million qubits, the scale at which useful applications can be accessed.
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