Airbus backs Australia quantum computing player
Airbus Ventures has led a $25 million Series B round for Australia’s Q-Ctrl, a quantum computing developer increasingly geared toward space tech and orbital infrastructure.
“[W]e’re particularly excited about Q-Ctrl’s widening span of advanced applications and solutions, including lunar development, geospatial intelligence, and Earth observation, all increasingly critical in the global effort to address the accelerating planetary system crises we now face,” Lewis Pinault, a Tokyo-based partner at Airbus Ventures, said in a statement.
Q-Ctrl has recently pivoted its R&D focus toward quantum sensing, a field of technology mooted as a possible replacement for GPS that has attracted significant attention for its military potential. Its quantum sensing clients include Advanced Navigation, the Australian Department of Defence, the Air Force Research Lab, and the Australian Space Agency.
The company is currently developing space-qualified quantum sensors via Australia’s “Moon to Mars” supply chain program in partnership with NASA. This work is being done as part of a mission called Seven Sisters that would involve nanosatellites and sensors orbiting the moon in search of water. Seven Sisters is being led by Fleet, a local space tech start-up that raised a $26.4 million Series B last month.
“Quantum sensing uses the fragility of quantum hardware as an asset to enable new ways to measure underground water, monitor space weather, and navigate without a global positioning system. However, like quantum computing, interference from the outside world degrades system performance when quantum sensors are taken from the lab out into the field,” said Michael Biercuk, founder and CEO of Q-Ctrl.
“Combatting this degradation using quantum control is Q-Ctrl’s specialty, and the team is now pioneering the development of software-defined quantum sensors, leveraging our expertise to boost sensor performance in real field environments by orders of magnitude.”
Airbus was joined in the latest investment by Sequoia Capital China, Square Peg Capital, Ridgeline Partners, Main Sequence Ventures, Sierra Ventures, and Data Collective. In-Q-Tel, a US-based VC firm that acquired a 33% stake in the company last year, also participated. Square Peg led a $15 million Series A in 2019 that featured Hong Kong’s Horizons Ventures.
Horizons and In-Q-Tel also participated in Fleet’s Series B alongside Blackbird Ventures, Artesian Venture Partners, Grok Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. Fleet, which has raised about $37 million to date, specializes in nanosatellites for supporting internet-of-things systems on the ground. It expects to launch the Seven Sisters operation in 2023.
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