Participated · Series B · Oct 2024

Q-CTRL is a leading quantum infrastructure software company that develops and sells software for quantum systems. The company emphasizes that it already builds and sells software products, which it cites as a differentiator in a sector that remains largely research-focused. Q-CTRL has long positioned itself as a player in quantum infrastructure software. It recently secured an $86.3 million Series B extension, bringing the total Series B to $166 million. The company named GP Bullhound as the lead on the extension and noted participation from prior backers and several new investors. The articles frame the funding as growth capital tied to its commercial software activities. Q-CTRL develops quantum control infrastructure and performance-management software that delivers error‑correcting and suppressing techniques for quantum computers and sensors. The company operates a quantum sensing division and offers an edtech platform called Black Opal. Its performance-management software runs natively on IBM quantum computers and Q-CTRL has been an inaugural member of the IBM Quantum Network since 2018. Founded by Michael J. Biercuk in 2017, Q-CTRL lists international headquarters in Sydney, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Oxford. The company has applied its capabilities in logistics and transport with customers including Transport for NSW and the Australian Army. Near-term plans described in the article include delivering quantum-hardware‑optimized algorithmic solvers for train scheduling to UK transport authorities and prototyping solutions with Oxford Quantum Circuits. Q-CTRL builds AI-enhanced quantum infrastructure software that stabilizes quantum hardware and reduces algorithm errors by over 1,000x. The company sells solutions to end-users, researchers, and platform vendors and is deploying performance management software natively on all IBM cloud-connected quantum computers. Q-CTRL is also commercializing "software-ruggedized" quantum sensors, which have been adopted by Australian Defence for GPS-denied navigation. The team entered the year with over $15 million in bookings and closed the first half of 2023 cash-flow positive (ignoring equity investments), while growing to more than 100 staff and adding new offices in the UK and Berlin. Management says it has preserved large cash reserves and plans to use the Series B to fund technical innovation through its quantum research division, expand the product portfolio, and scale operations. Q-CTRL develops quantum-sensing software intended to reduce errors and optimize both hardware and algorithms for quantum computers. Its product suite includes Black Opal, Boulder Opal, Fire Opal and Open Controls; the company launched Black Opal Enterprise in October and released Black Opal for individuals in April 2022. Q-CTRL reported demonstrations achieving up to approximately 9,000 times improvement in the likelihood that a quantum algorithm would give the correct answer. Commercial traction followed those breakthroughs: sales bookings grew threefold to over $15 million in calendar year 2022 and the company has more than 8,000 users. Customers and partners include U.S. government contracts, Australian defense agencies, quantum hardware firms (Rigetti, IonQ, IBM, Atom Computing, Alice & Bob, Nord Quantique, Pasqal), universities, national labs and corporate partners such as EY, KPMG, Capgemini, Quanscient, Xerox PARC and Classiq. Q-CTRL says it will use new funding to continue product engineering, expand sales and marketing capacity, and grow its headcount from about 80 to roughly 120 across Sydney, Los Angeles and Berlin. Q-CTRL builds quantum control infrastructure software that addresses hardware error and instability to improve quantum computing performance. The company is also developing quantum sensing technologies for acceleration, gravity and magnetic fields and working on space‑qualified sensors with a consortium led by Fleet Space Technologies. Clients and partners include Advanced Navigation, the Australian Department of Defense, the Air Force Research Lab and the Australian Space Agency. Recent technical demonstrations using Q-CTRL’s quantum logic gate technology improved quantum algorithm performance on real machines by 2,680%. Q-CTRL has been expanding commercially: revenue in fiscal 2020–2021 was up 3X year‑over‑year and the nascent quantum sensor business generated over $9 million in sales and bookings after launching in late 2020. The company has grown its team from about 20 to 60 since January 2020 and employs more than 30 Ph.D.-level researchers.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2010

Telarix provides business information exchange and interconnect OSS/BSS solutions, serving content and IP service providers as well as global fixed and mobile operators. Its flagship service is iXLink, a global business information exchange founded in conjunction with some of the world’s largest carriers. The company secured $20M in growth capital to support continued expansion of iXLink. In conjunction with the transaction Glen Kazerman was appointed Chief Executive Officer; he had served as Senior VP of Sales and Marketing and most recently as Chief Operating Officer. Don Lynch, who led the company as CEO for the past four years, will continue as a Senior Advisor focusing on future iXLink and industry initiatives. Telarix also named Michael Salsbury as General Counsel.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2008

Regent Education provides automated financial aid management and enrollment optimization solutions for schools via a software-as-a-service model that integrates with institutions' existing systems. Its flagship product, Regent 8, automates financial aid management across term-based, non-term, self-paced, and competency-based education. The company also offers a variety of other solutions to help institutions attract students and manage onboarding and administration more efficiently. Led by CEO Jim Hermens and based in Frederick, Md., Regent serves educational institutions and integrates with their student management systems. Regent completed an $8.5M funding round and intends to use the proceeds to accelerate product development across its suite of financial aid automation products, strengthen implementation services, and invest in innovation and growth. Regent Education provides a software-as-a-service financial aid management system called Regent 8 and a variety of other solutions to help colleges attract, onboard and administer students more efficiently. The platform integrates with a variety of other systems that institutions use to manage their operations. The company is led by CEO Randy Jones and was founded in 2006. Regent announced it closed funding to accelerate its growth. The funding package totaled $9M and combines equity and debt financing. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. Regent Education provides software to institutions of higher education to streamline the administration of student financial aid. The company offers tools for managing financial aid workflows and related administration tasks. It plans to use its new funding to drive market penetration and continue product development. Regent has drawn board representation from lead and prior investors, reflecting ongoing investor engagement. The article reports a recent infusion of capital but does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or user counts. Regent’s headquarters are in Frederick, Maryland.