What the business is
UK quantum compute-as-a-service company offering access to its quantum computers
The bet
Quantum access in commercial data centres, sold as a service, is the route to enterprise customers and to platforms of hundreds of qubits
Starting capital
$100M Series B (ongoing) led by SBI Investment with Oxford Science Enterprises, UTEC, Lansdowne Partners and OTIF; £41M raised before
How it started
Before its Series B, OQC had raised £41 million, including what was then the largest Series A in UK quantum.
What happened
On 2023-11-27, announced at the Global Investment Summit, Japanese VC SBI Investment said it would lead OQC's $100M Series B, which was still ongoing. OQC also announced public availability of OQC Toshiko, a 32-qubit platform deployed to commercial data centres, calling it the world's first enterprise-ready quantum computing platform.
What has to be true
Funding was needed for R&D toward quantum advantage and platforms of hundreds of qubits
Data-centre deployment suits customers handling sensitive data
Hybrid quantum and high-performance computing needs machines in data centres
SBI Investment, which the company calls Japan's premier VC fund, led the round
What can be applied
OQC pairs a big round with a product claim; 'enterprise-ready' is the company's own description of a 32-qubit machine.
Aftermath
As of 2023-11-27 OQC's $100M Series B was ongoing, not closed, and OQC Toshiko was publicly available as a 32-qubit platform. Customer numbers were not reported.
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