Espoo-based quantum computing company IQM Quantum Computers has become publicly traded, raising €127 million ($146 million) in PIPE financing as part of its move onto the public markets in both the U.S. and Finland. The PIPE financing, a private investment arranged alongside the listing, included participation from Tesi. Additional shareholders
David Cendon Garcia
Espoo-based quantum computing company IQM Quantum Computers has become publicly traded, raising €127 million ($146 million) in PIPE financing as part of its move onto the public markets in both the U.S. and Finland.
The PIPE financing, a private investment arranged alongside the listing, included participation from Tesi. Additional shareholders at listing include Ilmarinen, Elo, and Varma.
“Quantum computing is reaching an inflection point. Around the world, organisations are moving from exploration to implementation, investing in quantum infrastructure and building the capabilities that will define the next generation of computing,” says Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers.
“IQM enters the public markets from a position of strength, with leading technology, a growing global customer base, and a clear strategy for scaling the commercial adoption of quantum computing. We are excited to begin this next chapter as a public company.”
The former scale-up was founded in 2018 and spun out from Aalto University as a DeepTech company focused on superconducting quantum computers. The company delivers full-stack quantum systems and cloud platform access to enterprises, research institutions, universities, high-performance computing centres, and national laboratories.
It also has major operations in Munich and employs more than 400 people across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Along with the expansion to the US, trading in IQM’s shares also began today on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, allegedly making the company the first quantum technology company in Europe to go public and the first company to be dual-listed on both the Helsinki Stock Exchange and in the United States.
According to the company, the transaction leaves IQM with a pro forma cash position of €337 million.
Tesi, also known as Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, has been an investor in and active owner of IQM since 2019 and will continue as an owner following the listing. Tesi’s ownership stake exceeds 9%. In total, IQM has raised €475 million ($545 million) in growth financing.
“Finland is emerging as a European powerhouse in building research-driven growth companies. We are proud to say that Europe’s first listing of a quantum technology company is also taking place right here in Finland,” says Tesi’s CEO Pia Santavirta.
IQM says it has sold 23 quantum computers worldwide, positioning its Production Quantum model around full-stack, open-architecture systems that customers can own, operate, and build on.
Its on-premises deployment model is designed to give customers direct ownership and control over their quantum infrastructure, while the company also offers quantum computing through cloud access running in its own sovereign data centre.
The company’s systems are already operational at institutions and supercomputing centres including CINECA in Italy, the Leibniz Supercomputing Center in Germany, and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States.
IQM has also opened its first Quantum Technology Center in Maryland as part of its US expansion.
In Asia, IQM has secured what it describes as the first enterprise quantum computer purchase in Japan, with Toyo Corporation acquiring an IQM system to accelerate industrial quantum computing applications and broaden access to quantum technologies for Japanese enterprises and research organisations.
The company also points to Poland-based Galaxy as the first private enterprise in the world to buy a quantum computer from IQM, framing the purchase around technological sovereignty and in-house control of infrastructure.
“Ambitious DeepTech companies like IQM are cornerstones of Finland’s growth. Tesi has strongly supported IQM’s path to listing and will continue as a growth owner of the company following the listing as well,” says Juha Lehtola, Tesi’s Director of Venture and Growth Investments.
With governments, enterprises, and scientific institutions increasing investment in next-generation computing, IQM is positioning itself around applications in materials science, optimisation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, climate modelling, and drug discovery.
Today’s listing gives the Finnish company additional fuel to scale its operations as it works to move quantum computing from lab environments into customer-owned data centres.
