Quantum News Nexus

Horizon Quantum Computing, the quantum software company which earlier announced it will become a publicly-traded firm through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) dMY Squared Technology Group, Inc., announced $110 million in Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing, with IonQ as one of the participants.

The amount of IonQ’s purchase was not disclosed. It’s participation is not completely surprising, as IonQ has been spreading its trove of cash around the sector an aggressive buyer of and investor in other quantum technology companies. I am not aware of any previous partnership between IonQ and Horizon. IonQ has been pursuing its own software path, but Horizon’s Triple Alpha software is hardware-agnostic so it’s conceivable there could be a future collaboration between the companies.

A PIPE financing round typically happens pretty close to an IPO, and often is seen as a vote of confidence by groups of institutional investors as a SPAC merger is about to be executed. Horizon and dMY have been targeting the first quarter of next year to complete their merger.

It’s already looking like the roster of publicly-traded quantum firms is set to radically expand next year with Horizon, Xanadu, and Infleqtion all pursuing SPAC mergers, and two or three other companies rumored to be considering IPO options.

Horizon, which is based in Singapore with a major presence in Dublin, Ireland, said the amount of the PIPE commitments exceeded its original target fundraising by more than 120%. A statement from Horizon added, “Upon the closing of the Business Combination, Horizon Quantum expects it will have access to approximately $137 million in cash (prior to the payment of transaction costs and assuming no redemptions by dMY Squared’s public shareholders), from a combination of approximately $27 million held in a trust account by dMY Squared and approximately $110 million of PIPE financing. The net proceeds from this transaction will be used to accelerate Horizon Quantum’s investments in research and development, strengthen its hardware testbed, and further advance its Triple Alpha development environment.”

The PIPE financing announcement comes just a few days after Horizon Quantum revealed that it had finished the installation of its first fully operational quantum computer in its testbed facility. Rather than buying a full-scale system from a single supplier, Horizon earlier this year purchased a Novera QPU from Rigetti Computing, and combined it with a cryogenic platform from Maybell and control electronics from Quantum Machines. The company said its testbed has capacity to host multiple systems.

Quantum News Nexus is a site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.