A number of companies, betting on various architectural approaches, are trying to build the first commercially viable quantum computer capable of significantly outperforming current systems.
Oratomic, which entered the race earlier this year with the goal of developing the first utility-scale quantum computer by the end of the decade, said this week that it has raised $300 million. The massive Series A round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercarbon Capital, Bain Capital, and others.
Founded by Caltech physicists, Oratomic uses lasers, which act as optical tweezers, to hold individual atoms in place as the basis for its quantum computer.
The startup was launched after its researchers discovered that their approach can correct errors using significantly fewer qubits — the basic unit in quantum computing — than previously thought possible. Since quantum computers are sensitive to noise, effective error correction is the key to turning them into truly useful tools.
“You would have not previously been able to convince any of us to start a quantum computing company, because we just thought it was way too far away,” Oratomic’s co-founder and CEO Dolev Bluvstein told TechCrunch. “Only when we made this recent breakthrough did we simultaneously all change our minds.”
