Qolab, a quantum computing startup founded by former Google execs, has announced the closing of its Series B Preferred Stock financing round, totaling $54.2 million.The round, which was led by UC Investments, also comprised $12.6 million in convertible securities and a commitment for $10 million in future convertible securities. Other investors in the round include Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Octave Ventures, and Phoenix Venture Partners.California-based Qolab was founded in 2022 by former Google quantum leaders – CEO Alan Ho was previously at Google, where he was a product and program management lead for the Google Quantum AI team. Meanwhile, CTO John Martinis led the Google Quantum AI Lab team that developed a quantum computer that could outperform classical supercomputers on a specific task in 2019.The company launched out of stealth in the summer of 2024, having raised $3.5 million that year from the state-owned Development Bank of Japan.Qolab is focused on superconducting qubits and enhancing qubit coherence – or how long a quantum bit can maintain its quantum state without errors. In a statement, the company said the funding would help support its continued development of scalable superconducting quantum computing technologies, allowing it to expand its strategic semiconductor collaborations and enable Qolab to achieve its target of delivering fault-tolerant quantum computing.“Quantum computing is entering a new era, where decades of scientific research are beginning to translate into technologies capable of addressing real-world challenges,” said Martinis, also a distinguished professor at UC Santa Barbara. “This investment enables Qolab to accelerate development of scalable quantum systems while deepening our collaborations across the University of California ecosystem and the broader scientific community.”Chinese quantum startup SpinQ closes $147m funding roundElsewhere, Chinese quantum computing firm SpinQ has raised $147 million in a Series D funding round, which saw participation from CICC Capital, Shenzhen TopoScend Capital, Shanghai Semiconductor Industry Investment, AVIC Honghua, and Shanghai SEARI Private Equity Investment Management, among others.SpinQ also announced it has established its own superconducting quantum chip R&D and pilot production line in Shenzhen, China, which supports everything from design and process development to fabrication, packaging, and testing. It claims to have also built a full-stack technology platform that spans quantum chip design, quantum EDA software, control systems, full-system manufacturing, cloud services, and quantum algorithm applications.The company said it has already completed tape-out, packaging, and validation of its latest 25-qubit and 103-qubit superconducting quantum chips at the facility.SpinQ said the funding would be used to further accelerate its development of fault-tolerant general-purpose quantum computers, whilst also enabling it to upgrade its core manufacturing processes and expand its global ecosystem.“Quantum computing is a frontier technology that requires long-term commitment, sustained investment, and deep system-level engineering capabilities,” said Dr. Xiang Jingen, founder and CEO of SpinQ. “With this new round of funding, we will remain focused on our core goal of building fault-tolerant general-purpose quantum computers, while continuing to advance quantum error correction and key hardware and software technologies. We look forward to working with partners across industry and academia to unlock the long-term value of quantum computing.”