D-Wave develops quantum computing systems, software, and services and positions itself as the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. The company is expanding product offerings around feature selection for AI/ML, using quantum hybrid solvers and professional services to formulate feature selection as a combinatorial optimization problem. D-Wave says this “one-shot” approach can avoid iterative model retraining and has shown early results in areas such as fraud detection and TV commercial advertising optimization. Its feature selection offering is available directly from D-Wave and in AWS Marketplace. D-Wave is also expanding its Leap real-time quantum cloud service to Israel (bringing Leap to 39 countries on March 8), giving users access to the Advantage system, hybrid solvers, and an integrated developer environment. On the corporate side it is pursuing SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and has been building its cash position by drawing from financing mechanisms such as its Equity Line of Credit. D-Wave Systems, based in Burnaby, BC and founded in 1999, develops quantum computing hardware and software and was the first company to offer a commercially available quantum computer. The company plans to use the financing to continue prototyping, development, full-scale implementation, and deployment of quantum computing systems, according to CEO Alan Baratz. The $40 million in Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) financing from the Government of Canada will support a $120 million project aimed at developing hardware and software and proving quantum advantage over classical computers. The project has also received assistance from the Sustainable Development Technologies Canada program and the Government of British Columbia, though their contributions were not disclosed. Despite raising more than $300 million USD to date and reportedly raising $40 million last year as part of a capital restructuring, D-Wave has struggled to become a sustainable company and endured a "year of reset expectations." The Globe and Mail reported the company had secured just $75 million USD in customer contracts over its lifespan, and last year’s financing cut its valuation to under $170 million USD from $450 million, reducing stakes of longtime investors. D-Wave faces increased competition from Google, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM, and the SIF funding carries targets and prerequisites that have led to stripped funding for other firms when targets were not met. D-Wave Systems develops quantum computing hardware and cloud-accessible quantum services. The company is pursuing hybrid applications that combine its quantum systems with classical high-performance computing to improve performance and lower costs versus purely classical approaches. To advance that strategy it announced a partnership with NEC to develop hybrid services that integrate NEC supercomputers with D-Wave’s quantum technology and to build applications with NEC customers. NEC will also be an authorized reseller of D-Wave cloud services, which the companies say will expand commercial access, including in Japan where D-Wave has done significant business. NEC will invest $10 million in D-Wave; the company had previously raised $204 million, according to Crunchbase. D-Wave describes the collaboration as a milestone toward fully commercial quantum applications, and the company announced that Alan Baratz will become CEO effective January 1st. D-Wave develops and delivers quantum annealing quantum computing systems and accompanying software, offering remote access for customers to build prototype applications. Its installed user base across Japan, Europe and North America is developing dozens of prototypes in optimization, machine learning and scientific research. The company launched a Quadrant business unit to deliver quantum‑inspired machine learning algorithms that run on GPUs today and are designed for its next‑generation hardware. D-Wave also runs in-person training, plans additional online learning tools, and hosts user conferences to promote collaboration. Financially, D-Wave received CAD$10M in funding and support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and closed US$20M in previously-announced funding from PSP Investments to support development of its next‑generation system. The company is headquartered near Vancouver, Canada, with U.S. operations in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave Systems Inc. is a Vancouver, Canada-based developer of quantum computing systems and software. The company builds commercial quantum processors and delivers systems and software intended to address national defense, scientific, technical, and commercial problems. Its products have been deployed by organizations including Lockheed Martin, Google, NASA Ames, USRA, USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Temporal Defense Systems. The company’s fourth-generation D-Wave 2000Q system was installed at the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab run by Google, NASA, and USRA. D-Wave says it will use the new funding to continue delivering systems and software and to push its technology forward. The new capital brings D-Wave’s total funding to approximately USD 220m.

Total raised

$201M

Funding rounds

9

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Feb 2023