U.S. venture capital giant Bessemer Venture Partners has signed on to lead a US$100-million funding of Toronto startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., as competition intensifies in a global race to bring quantum computers to market.
Three sources familiar with the deal, whose composition is still coming together and which has not been finalized, say it would value Xanadu at US$400-million post-transaction. The deal would cement Xanadu’s status as one of a handful of the leading upstart companies in the nascent quantum computing space. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the financing.
The new funding would be the second bet by Bessemer – an early funder of Pinterest, LinkedIn, Yelp, Skype, and Canada’s Shopify, Clio and Ada Support – in the quantum space, after investing US$20-million last year in Rigetti Computing.
Xanadu, along with U.S. startups PsiQuantum Ltd., IonQ Inc. and conglomerate Honeywell International Inc., are bringing newer approaches to a field that includes global giants Microsoft, Google, Intel, IBM and Burnaby, B.C.’s D-Wave Systems.
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