Oratomic Raises $300 Million to Build Quantum Computer Targeting 10,000–20,000 Qubits

Oratomic raised $300 million in a Series A round this week to develop a utility-scale quantum computer by the end of the decade, @techcrunch reported. The round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercarbon Capital and Bain Capital.

Oratomic was founded by Caltech physicists who use lasers acting as optical tweezers to hold individual atoms in place.

The company launched after researchers found their method can correct errors with far fewer qubits than earlier estimates required. Co-founder and CEO Dolev Bluvstein said the breakthrough changed the team’s view on starting a quantum company. “You would have not previously been able to convince any of us to start a quantum computing company, because we just thought it was way too far away,” he told @techcrunch.

Oratomic has no plans to sell noisy intermediate-scale quantum systems. It estimates it needs 10,000 to 20,000 qubits for a useful machine and has already demonstrated core components at smaller scale. Bluvstein said the approach is simpler and less expensive than that of PsiQuantum, valued at $7 billion last September, which also skips the NISQ stage and targets a million-qubit machine by the end of next year.

Investor interest in quantum computing has risen this year. Infleqtion and Quantinuum went public, while Rigetti and IonQ shares have risen sharply over the past 18 months. Khosla Ventures called its Oratomic investment its largest initial check to date.