A College Park startup is looking to take the quantum computing realm by storm.
IonQ on Tuesday announced the close of a $55 million funding round led by the Samsung Catalyst Fund and Mubadala Capital. The fresh capital brings its total raised to $77 million.
The company plans to use the funds to increase accessibility to businesses and developers, by making its quantum computers and development software commercially available via the cloud.
The move follows a major milestone for IonQ’s "trapped-ion" technology, which it says offers the most promise for reliable, scalable quantum computing. Recently, the startup built what it claims is the largest programmable quantum computer to date, demonstrating performance benchmarks that no others have yet matched.
“We are building a future where IonQ’s quantum computers will be available to developers in fields from finance to manufacturing to pharmaceuticals," CEO Peter Chapman said in a statement. "We expect this to inspire a new generation of developers to build applications that will power the next wave of discovery.”
A swath of big-name investors joined Samsung and Mubadala to help fund that mission. Additional participants in the funding round included ACME Capital, Airbus Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Tao Capital Partners, Correlation Ventures and A&E Investment LLC; along with previous investors Osage University Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Google's venture arm GV and Amazon.
Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer for Samsung Electronics and board chairman for Harman, said the quantum computing industry is young but transformational.
“Foundational and revolutionary technologies – like the transistor, the laser or the mobile phone – take years to evolve into innovations that transform the way we live,” he said in a statement. “Though it’s still early days, we see a similar revolution taking place with quantum computing, which is why we’re excited to work alongside the IonQ team.”
The investor excitement for quantum technology comes largely from its promised ability to solve data-heavy optimization problems, regardless of industry, like identifying the best shipping routes or producing and testing energy-efficient materials and batteries. By 2023, 20 percent of organizations intend to budget for quantum-computing projects, according to Gartner, compared to less than 1 percent in 2018.
