ANU spin-out company Quantum Brilliance has hit another major milestone in its mission to deliver the world's first room temperature quantum computer.
The Australian-German company has raised more than $13 million in seed funding in partnership with QX Branch founders and Main Sequence investment consortium.
Quantum Brilliance was spun out from ANU in 2019 from the University's leading research group in diamond quantum science.
The new funding will be used to develop the company's quantum accelerators, which are driven by synthetic diamonds.
These accelerators are a lot smaller than those currently used in other quantum computers and have the potential to rapidly accelerate the adoption of quantum computing across a range of industries.
Quantum accelerators can be deployed wherever classical computers are used, including satellites, vehicles, hospitals and robotic systems.
"It is wonderful to see venture investments in breakthrough research commercialisation spin-outs like Quantum Brilliance," ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said.
"If the University's goal to create a billion-dollar company in the next five years is to happen, it will be through these joint efforts."
Quantum Brilliance aims to deliver their room temperature quantum accelerators the size of a lunchbox with over 50 qubits by 2025.
The company was founded by Dr Andrew Horsley, Dr Marcus Doherty - both from the ANU Research School of Physics - and Mark Luo.
"We are tremendously appreciative of the trust our investors have in our capabilities to deliver on our R&D and go-to-market plans," Dr Horsley said.
QXBranch founder, Shaun Wilson, is one of Quantum Brilliance's latest backers. QxBranch is Australia's first quantum computing applications company, founded in 2014 and acquired by Rigetti in 2019.
"We've had experience with companies developing technology quietly until their breakout and then reaching significant valuations on the global stage," Mr Wilson said.
"We are quietly confident Quantum Brilliance has all the foundations in place to be a globally significant company and to reshape the quantum computing industry."
Bill Bartee, partner at Main Sequence Ventures said: "We're excited to support the Australian quantum industry and visionary companies like Quantum Brilliance who have a unique approach to designing and building quantum accelerators at the edge."
Quantum Brilliance will also use the funding to expand its operations and staffing footprint in Australian and Germany, hiring more than 100 engineers and physicists across the two countries.
Learn more about Quantum Brilliance here.
