Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) has raised £260 million in a Series C funding round, which it said is the largest private investment ever secured by a quantum computing company in Europe.
The quantum computing company said the oversubscribed round values the business among the best-capitalised private quantum computing companies globally and will support international expansion, new deployments, and the development of next-generation quantum computing systems.
Bullhound Capital led the funding round, with participation from a range of new and existing investors, including the British Business Bank, Rokos Capital Management, Fulcrum Asset Management, and Oxford Science Enterprises.
Founded in the UK as a spinout from Oxford University, OQC develops superconducting quantum computers for enterprise and government customers. The company already operates quantum systems across Europe, North America and Asia, with deployments in the UK, the United States, Japan and Spain.
OQC said it will use the funding to expand its presence in key international markets and accelerate its roadmap towards commercially viable fault-tolerant quantum computing.
The company believes growing demand from organisations in sectors including financial services, defence, and security is driving interest in scalable quantum infrastructure capable of tackling computing challenges beyond the reach of conventional systems.
Gerald Mullally, chief executive of OQC, described the investment as a “coming-of-age moment” for British quantum computing which shows that British companies can play a leading role in a technology that will shape the future.
“Globally, it represents a clear shift in the market – from long-term promise to near-term delivery in quantum computing,” he added. “For OQC, this gives us the capital to scale internationally, advance our technology roadmap, and meet increasing demand from customers seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure.”
The announcement follows a period of growth for OQC. Over the past year expanded its focus beyond quantum hardware to include quantum-AI data centre platforms that combine quantum computing, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.
