Qolab has increased its total funding to $54.2 million with the initial closings of its Series B Preferred Stock financing along with the conversion of an aggregate of $12.6 million in convertible securities and a commitment for an aggregate of $10 million in future convertible securities.
The funding round was led by UC Investments (the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer).
The Series B Preferred Stock financing and prior convertible financing included participation from existing financial and strategic semiconductor investors including Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Octave Ventures, and Phoenix Venture Partners.
The financing will support Qolab’s continued development of scalable superconducting quantum computing technologies, expansion of strategic semiconductor collaborations, and acceleration of the company’s target toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.
“Quantum computing is entering a new era, where decades of scientific research are beginning to translate into technologies capable of addressing real-world challenges,” said Qolab co-founder and CTO John Martinis, also a professor at UC Santa Barbara.
“This investment enables Qolab to accelerate development of scalable quantum systems while deepening our collaborations across the University of California ecosystem and the broader scientific community,” said Martinis.
The investment by UC Investments further deepens Qolab’s ties across the University of California’s research ecosystem. Qolab collaborates with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory through the Quantum Systems Accelerator — a US Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by the Berkeley Lab — and with researchers from UC Santa Barbara to explore next-generation quantum algorithms using Qolab technologies.
“Our mission at UC Investments is to help ensure that our great public research university system continues to thrive for generations to come,” said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, UC’s chief investment officer.
“That’s why we seek transformative investment opportunities that we believe will speed scientific discovery and innovation, and, in the end, make the world better,” he said.
The announcement also coincides with the seventh year of a highly competitive UC Investments fellowship that supports UC graduate students and post-doctorates’ participation in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, a collaboration dedicated to fostering scientific excellence, encouraging emerging researchers and advancing breakthrough innovation.
“Solving the most difficult challenges in quantum computing requires deep collaboration with the semiconductor industry to effectively scale manufacturing,” said Alan Ho, co-founder and CEO of Qolab.
“The support of UC Investments, together with our existing financial and semiconductor investors, strengthens our ability to deliver scalable quantum technologies that can transform computing,” said Ho.
