Quantum Brilliance, an Australian-German quantum accelerator startup, today announced closing a A$13 million seed investment to advance diamond quantum accelerator development and deployment.
The investment was co-led by the QxBranch founders’ and Main Sequence investment consortium.
Quantum Brilliance harnesses synthetic diamonds to build quantum accelerators that do not require near absolute zero temperature or complex laser systems to operate like mainframe quantum computers. Quantum Brilliance is reportedly one of only a few companies worldwide already delivering quantum computing systems for customers to operate on-site today.
The company was spun out in 2019 from The Australian National University’s leading research group in diamond quantum science. The co-founders invented novel fabrication techniques and processor architectures and have worked closely with innovative early adopters making their software products accessible for co-development.
“It is wonderful to see venture investments in breakthrough research commercialisation spin-outs like Quantum Brilliance,” ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said. “If the University’s goal to create a billion-dollar company in the next five years is to happen, it will be through these joint efforts.”
“We’ve had experience with companies developing technology quietly until their breakout and then reaching significant valuations on the global stage,” Shaun Wilson, founder of QxBranch, said. “We are quietly confident Quantum Brilliance has all the foundations in place to be a globally significant company and to reshape the quantum computing industry.”
“We’re excited to support the Australian quantum industry and visionary companies like Quantum Brilliance who have a unique approach to designing and building quantum accelerators at the edge,” Bill Bartee, partner at Main Sequence Ventures, said.
Quantum Brilliance is actively hiring for 20 roles including VP of Engineering and scientists, physicists, software engineers and control engineers to support the research, development, engineering, and production of the company’s quantum computing technology.
The company says its projected roadmap to provide quantum accelerators the size of a lunchbox with over 50 qubits by 2025 will "greatly accelerate the adoption of useful quantum applications across a variety of sectors". Quantum accelerators can be deployed wherever classical computers are used such as satellites, vehicles, hospitals, and robotic systems.
“We are tremendously appreciative of the trust our investors have in our capabilities to deliver on our R&D and go-to-market plans,” CEO Andrew Horsley said. Horsley is one of three company co-founders alongside Chief Scientific Officer Marcus Doherty and COO Mark Luo.
The seed round also featured participation from CP Ventures, Investible, Jelix Ventures, MA Financial (formerly Moelis Australia) Growth Ventures Fund, R3I Ventures, and Ultratech Capital Partners.