Riverlane Locks Up $75M as Quant Funding Continues to Be Strong This Year

Startup Riverlane continued a successful year for venture capital funding in the quantum computing industry.

The U.K.-based quantum error-correction technology firm has raised $75 million in a Series C round led by Planet First Partners. The round also includes ETF Partners, EDBI, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, National Security Strategic Investment Fund and Altair

The company’s technology helps quantum computers operate without succumbing to potential errors. Such computers can typically perform only a few hundred quantum operations before failing.

“Quantum error correction is a key enabler of the next giant wave of advancement in the industry, from today’s small, error-prone machines to the large, reliable quantum computers that will usher in a new era of human progress as significant as the digital revolution,” founder and CEO Steve Brierley said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, the company has raised nearly $121 million, according to Crunchbase.

Quantum in action

Quantum computing startups have certainly received some attention from investors this year.

So far this year, such startups have raised nearly $1.4 billion in more than two dozen rounds, according to Crunchbase data. That amount is almost twice the $777 million that similar startups raised in all of last year.

The dollar amount was driven by several large funding rounds, including PsiQuantum’s $620 million in May from the Commonwealth of Australia and Queensland governments to build a quantum computer near Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Australia, and Quantinuum’s $300 million in equity fundraising at a pre-funding valuation of $5 billion in January.

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Illustration: House of Guzman