Quantum sensor and software maker Q-CTRL raises $290M in funding

Q-CTRL Pty Ltd., a provider of quantum sensors and software for managing qubits, today announced that it has raised $290 million in funding.

Salesforce Ventures led the oversubscribed Series C deal. It was joined by more than a dozen others, including Bullhound Capital and Affinity Partners, which Q-CTRL says made “significant” contributions, as well as AMD Ventures. The Australian company is now valued at more than $1 billion.

Q-CTRL sells a series of quantum navigation systems called Ironstone Opal. The company positions the product family as a more reliable alternative to GPS. Q-CTRL says that the devices can withstand jamming attempts, adverse weather and other challenging conditions that interfere with GPS signals.

Ironstone Opal tracks the host vehicle’s position with the help of sensors known as quantum magnetometers and quantum gravimeters. The sensors use variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and gravity as navigation cues.

Gravity is weaker at the top of a mountain than at sea level because the peak is farther away from the Earth’s core. The Earth’s magnetic field, in turn, exhibits perturbations at regions that have mineral deposits. Such gravitational and magnetic anomalies act as a unique fingerprint of the location where they occur. When a quantum sensor detects the fingerprint, it can deduce its location with relative ease.

Q-CTRL’s quantum magnetometers collect navigation data using tiny glass structures filled with clouds of atoms. The atoms change in specific ways when they encounter an anomaly in the Earth’s magnetic field. According to the company, its sensors detect those changes with the help of laser beams. Quantum gravimeters operate on a similar principle.

Ironstone Opal includes not only sensors but also software that processes the data they generate. It filters erroneous measurements, combines the remaining data with logs from other sensors and compares the information against pre-loaded maps.

C-QTRL offers Ironstone Opal alongside a pair of software tools designed to make quantum computers easier to use. The first tool, Boulder Opal, helps researchers calibrate qubits in a manner that optimizes their performance. It’s complemented by Fire Opal, which makes quantum algorithms less prone to errors. 

“The hard problem in quantum is not building the machine, it is getting useful output from it,” said Salesforce Ventures partner Robert Keith. “Q-CTRL solves that with AI-powered control software, and the proof is already public: a materials simulation on IBM hardware that any developer can now call directly from the IBM Quantum Platform, and the first quantum navigation system qualified for safety of flight.”

Q-CTRL will use the proceeds from the funding round to enhance its software and grow its international presence.

Photo: Q-CTRL