Backed by Intel, Israeli quantum control startup pulls in $170 million investment

Israeli startup Quantum Machines has secured $170 million in funding from backers including Intel’s investment arm, as the global race to develop practical and useful quantum computing, which has the potential to speed up solutions to today’s most complex problems, heats up.

The funding round was led by Boston-based growth investor PSG Equity and joined by Intel’s investment arm Intel Capital, Israeli venture capital company Red Dot Capital Partners, and existing investors. The investment takes the startup’s total funding to date to $280 million.

Founded in 2018 by award-winning quantum electronics experts Dr. Itamar Sivan, Dr. Yonatan Cohen, and Dr. Nissim Ofek, Quantum Machines develops hardware and software technologies to help quantum computing manufacturers operate, control, and manage quantum processors. These are at the core of realizing the potential of quantum computers.

The technology platform recognizes errors that occur in the quantum system and is able to correct them in real-time, the startup says.

Quantum processors promise computational horsepower to solve the most complex problems, where regular computers fail, to help lead breakthroughs in the areas of economics, technology, security, engineering, and science, and across fields such as drug discovery, cryptography, financial modeling, and supply-chain logistics.

“Turning a quantum processor into a functional quantum computer is an immense technical challenge,” said Quantum Machines CTO Cohen. “You need to precisely control the quantum system, process huge amounts of data in real-time, and orchestrate complex algorithms across quantum and classical processors.”

“Our platform uniquely integrates all these capabilities, enabling teams to rapidly go from innovations in their laboratories to deployment in data centers,” he added.

Employees at Quantum Machines, which was selected to establish the Israeli Quantum Computing Center at Tel Aviv University. (Dima Karminsky)

Speaking to The Times of Israel, Sivan said that the funding comes at a watershed moment in the development of quantum computing as tech giants like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel have all over the past year been racing at a fast pace with breakthrough achievements to make quantum computing more workable and accessible.

Last week, Microsoft unveiled its quantum chip which it said showed that the path to quantum computers that can solve meaningful problems is “years, not decades” away. In December, Google introduced its own quantum chip called Willow.

“There’s nothing that’s driving the world economy or industry more than the need for computing power as quantum computers would unleash incredible amounts of computing power to make calculations that would take today’s systems millions of years feasible, namely, do them in minutes, hours, or days, depending on the specific problem,” said Sivan. “We have developed technology, which is universal in the sense that it can work with any quantum computer and any type of quantum processor.”

“In doing that we have been able to secure more than 50 percent of the organizations and companies developing quantum computers globally as our customers who are already using our technology and systems and we want to keep up that momentum,” he remarked.

Quantum Machines is not disclosing the names of its customers, but the startup has forged partnerships with US chip giant Nvidia, Rigetti Computing, Applied Materials, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and QuantWare.

Quantum computing harnesses quantum mechanics and abstract physics to perform numerous calculations all at once to rapidly solve problems that are too complex for the most powerful classical computers to handle. Quantum computers process exponentially more data compared to classical computers, using quantum bits, or qubits, the basic unit of quantum information.

DGX Quantum, a system for quantum-classical computing developed by Nvidia and Israel’s Quantum Machines. (Courtesy)

Sivan said that the raised funds will be used to develop the next generation of the startup’s technology; expand its workforce in the areas of research & development, product, sales and marketing; and to open additional offices outside of Israel.

“Last year, we released the OPX1000 platform, which is a control system for quantum computers that can support 1000 qubits and the next generation system will be targeting 20,000 qubits as breakthroughs are emerging at an unprecedented pace and the requirements of our customers increase,” Sivan said.

In Israel, the startup was last year selected to head and operate the country’s first Quantum Computing Center (IQCC), funded by the Israel Innovation Authority at an investment of NIS 100 million ($28 million ). The center was established in June to help Israel compete in the global race to develop practical quantum computing capabilities. As of August 2024, Israel is home to 22 quantum computing startups, according to data by Startup Nation Central.

The launch of the IQCC comes as countries like China, the United States, Germany, India, and Japan are pouring huge funds into developing their exclusive quantum abilities vying for supremacy in what promises to be the new age of computing.

“We are part of multiple government-funded projects, in Israel, Europe and in the US,” said Sivan. “For countries, quantum computing is the most important and biggest arms race as the amount of computing power that the winners of this race will get is unbelievable.”