Seeqc, the New York-based digital quantum computing firm has raised $5 million funding round led by M Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA which is a German pharmaceutical company. Seeqc has noted that it will use the amount in order to develop commercially viable quantum computing systems for problem-specific applications.
Prior the new round, Seeqc has recently raised a round of $6.8 million as its seed funding with the help of NewLab, Blue Yard Capital, Cambium, and the Partnership Fund for New York City. According to the company, along with the new round it has raised a total worth of over $11 million.
During the announcement of new funding round, Seeqc has also declared that Merck will be a strategic partner for the company and will help the firm to develop its R&D efforts to develop useful application-specific quantum computers.
John Levy, the Co-Chief Executive Officer at Seeqc stated, “The ‘brute force’ or labware approach to quantum computing contemplates building machines with thousands or even millions of qubits requiring multiple analog cables and, in some cases, complex CMOS readout/control for each qubit, but that doesn’t scale effectively as the industry strives to deliver business-applicable solutions.” He added, “With Seeqc’s hybrid approach, we utilize the power of quantum computers in a digital system-on-a-chip environment, offering greater control, cost reduction and with a massive reduction in energy, introducing a more viable path to commercial scalability.”
Owen Lozman, the Vice President of M Ventures states, “We’re excited to be working with a world-leading team and fab on one of the most pressing issues in modern quantum computing. We recognize that scaling the current generations of superconducting quantum computers beyond the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era will require fundamental changes in qubit control and wiring. Building on deep expertise in single flux quantum technologies, Seeqc has a clear, and importantly cost-efficient, pathway towards addressing existing challenges and disrupting analog, microwave-controlled architectures.”
