Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), a UK-based company building quantum computers and a secure, scalable Quantum-AI data-centre platform for enterprise and government customers, has closed an oversubscribed €301 million (£260 million/$350 million) Series C funding round.
OQC claims this to be Europe’s largest ever private funding round for a quantum computing company. The round was led by Bullhound Capital, with participation from the British Business Bank, Fynveur (advised by Invus), COFIDES, Alpha Edison, Fulcrum Asset Management, Pentland Ventures, Magdalen College Oxford, Adaptive Capital Partners, Firgun Ventures, 18 West and Oxford Capital. Existing investors, including Oxford Science Enterprises, SBI, Chevron Technology Ventures, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co. and OTIF Ventures, also took part.
Gerald Mullally, CEO of OQC, said, “This is a coming-of-age moment for British quantum computing. It shows that British companies can play a leading role in a technology that will shape all our futures. Globally, it represents a clear shift in the market – from long-term promise to near-term delivery in quantum computing. For OQC, this gives us the capital to scale internationally, advance our technology roadmap, and meet increasing demand from customers seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure.”
Founded in 2017, OQC develops and operates superconducting quantum computers designed for deployment in data-centre environments serving enterprise and government customers. The company has established a global quantum computing platform across Europe, North America and Asia, with systems deployed in the UK, US, Japan, and Spain.
Its mission is to build the quantum-accelerated world. In order to achieve this, the company builds Application Optimised Compute; quantum computers specifically engineered for the commercial advantage era, where first quantum applications deliver real business value to customers.
It claims to be Europe’s first Quantum-Compute-as-a-Service provider and the only company integrating quantum computers directly into commercial data centres. The platform integrates quantum computing with trusted infrastructure and AI supercomputing to accelerate customer breakthroughs across science and industry.
Dr. Peter Leek, founder and Chief Scientific Officer of OQC, said, “OQC was founded to use innovative quantum circuit designs to build engineered systems that scale as simply as possible. I’m proud to be part of the incredible team we have today doing exactly that, to pioneer the future of quantum computing. This investment supports the next stage of our work: advancing system performance and reliability while continuing to integrate quantum computers into the trusted infrastructure customers depend on.”
It states that enterprise and government customers across financial services, defence and security are driving demand for OQC’s systems as they seek secure, scalable quantum infrastructure to tackle problems beyond the practical reach of classical computing.
Per Roman, founder and Managing Partner of Bullhound Capital, said, “OQC is building one of the most compelling quantum computing platforms globally, with the technology, infrastructure and customer focus required to scale. As quantum computing moves into global infrastructure, OQC is positioned to shape that transition. We are pleased to lead this round and support the company’s next phase of growth.”
The company plans to use this funding to expand OQC’s operational presence in priority markets and accelerate its roadmap toward commercially useful, fault-tolerant quantum computing. In 2022, OQC announced the first close of its Series A at about €44 million.
