Quantum Computing Firm D-Wave gets $30 Million Investment
In 1999 D-Wave Systems was spun out of the University of British Columbia to commercialize superconductor-based, quantum computer processors.
In 2011, the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) awarded Dr. Geordie Rose, founder and Chief Technology Officer of D-Wave Systems with the inaugural CIX Innovator of the Year Award.
Today Vancouver-headquarterd D-Wave Systems announced that they have raised a $30 million round from investors including the firm that manages Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s venture investments and an investment arm of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The investments, from Bezos Expeditions and In-Q-Tel, mark a vote of confidence in the potential for practical applications for the emerging technology underpinning quantum computing.
D-Wave already has a blue-chip investor base including Business Development Bank of Canada, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Goldman Sachs, and Growthworks.
D-Wave’s mission is to integrate new discoveries in physics and computer science into breakthrough new approaches to computation.
The company’s flagship product, the D-Wave On, is built around a novel type of superconducting processor that uses quantum mechanics to massively accelerate computation. In 2010 Lockheed Martin purchased serial #1, completing the historic world’s first sale of a commercial quantum computer.
