Rigetti Computing, a US-based quantum computer developer backed by media group Bloomberg, completed a $79m series C round yesterday led by venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP).
Franklin Templeton, Alumni Ventures Group, Data Collective (DCVC), Morpheus Ventures, Northgate Capital, the Singaporean state-owned EDBI and private investor Mark Leslie also took part in the round.
Rigetti raised an initial $71m for the round in February this year, according to a regulatory filing that showed the amount included $23.9m in converted securities, and that the round had a target size of $83.9m.
Founded in 2013, Rigetti is working on scalable, error-corrected quantum computers (pictured) and has built a dedicated quantum chip foundry it claims is a world first.
The company has also created a platform to run quantum computing applications in the cloud, and markets software to facilitate hybrid quantum-classical computing applications.
The funding has been allocated to business growth, building on the launch of Rigetti’s 32-qubit processor through both its own platform and Amazon Braket – a service aimed at researchers and developers looking to experiment with quantum computing – in late 2019.
Rigetti also secured an $8.6m award from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a quantum computer capable of outperforming classical computers in March this year.
Tomer Diari, an investor with BVP, has joined Rigetti’s board of directors, confirming reports earlier this year. Mark Leslie is also taking a board seat in connection with the round, which lifted the company’s funding to $198m altogether.
Undisclosed investors supplied $50m for Rigetti in late 2017, following a $40m series B round led by Vy Capital in March the same year that included existing backers Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures, WTI and FF Science.
Andreessen Horowitz led a $24m series A round also backed by Bloomberg investment vehicle Bloomberg Beta, Sutter Hill Ventures, Susa Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Lux Capital, DCVC, Continuity Fund, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures, FF Science and WTI disclosed at the same time as the series B.
The company had previously raised $5.2m in funding and identified Charlie Songhurst as an angel investor by the time of its series A and B rounds.
Image courtesy of Rigetti Computing.
