Molten Ventures, a leading venture capital firm investing in high growth technology businesses, has led a 拢15m Series B round in quantum engineering company Riverlane.
Molten was joined in the funding round by high-performance computing (HPC) leader Altair and returning investors Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) and Amadeus Capital Partners.
Altair’s CEO and founder, James Scapa, will join the Riverlane board.
This new investment substantially increases Riverlane鈥檚 enterprise valuation and is expected to see the company through to cash flow break-even.
The additional capital will be used to accelerate the development of Riverlane鈥檚 operating system for error-corrected quantum computing, Deltaflow.OS.
Error correction is the defining technical challenge for quantum computing to achieve the scale and reliability to deliver its transformative potential.
Riverlane is already partnering with many of the world鈥檚 leading quantum hardware companies, university labs and government agencies to build and implement Deltaflow.OS with various qubit types.
Riverlane also partners with enterprise leaders like AstraZeneca, Merck, Astex, Rolls Royce and Johnson Matthey.
Steve Brierley, founder and CEO of Riverlane said: 鈥淪olving quantum error correction 鈥� one of the defining scientific challenges of our times 鈥� will enable quantum computers to accurately simulate the true complexity of nature.
鈥淎rmed with useful quantum computers, humans will enter the Quantum Age, where we go from slow trial and error to solve complex problems to an era of rapid design using quantum computers.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 even begun to imagine the many ways such technology will positively transform our world.鈥�
Stuart Chapman, co-founder, Molten Ventures, said: 鈥淩iverlane’s impressive progress in quantum computing, particularly in the crucial area of quantum error correction, has led to a significant rise in its valuation, even in a tough technology market.
鈥淲ith Deltaflow.OS in development, Steve and the Riverlane team are ready to bring quantum computing to the commercial world. We’re thrilled to renew our support and have never felt more confident in Riverlane’s ability to drive quantum innovation and generate enduring value.”
The quantum computing industry is forecast to create up to $850 billion in economic value in the next 15-30 years.
To deliver transformational new applications in fields such as drug design, material science, aerospace and climate change, quantum computers will need to reliably perform a trillion high-speed operations without disruption.
In November 2022, Riverlane demonstrated the world鈥檚 fastest Decode solution that allows Deltaflow.OS to support far larger numbers of qubits than previously possible, while by the end of 2025, the company will develop its Decode solution into a chip-based 鈥楾eraQuOp鈥� decoder that can process up to 100TB of data per second – the equivalent of processing as much data as Netflix streams globally.
Riverlane has said that the UK has a unique position in the world as a centre of excellence for quantum error correction and chip design and is the reason it is headquartered in Cambridge.
With offices in Cambridge, Boston and San Francisco, the Riverlane team has more than doubled over the past year to 100 engineers and scientists.