The British Business Bank has committed GBP £100 million to Oxford Quantum Circuits as part of a GBP £260 million Series C funding round.
The round is among the largest completed by a quantum computing company in Europe, highlighting investor interest in a sector that has attracted growing government and private backing.
Bullhound Capital led the financing, with participation from Invus, Mastercard, COFIDES, Rokos Capital Management, IHAG, Fulcrum Asset Management, Pentland Ventures, Magdalen College Oxford, Adaptive Capital Partners, Firgun and 18 West. The British Business Bank also invested GBP £7 million in Oxford Quantum Circuits’ Series A round in 2022.
Oxford Quantum Circuits, known as OQC, was founded in the UK as a spinout from Oxford University. It develops and operates superconducting quantum computers for use in data centre environments.
OQC said it has built an international platform across Europe, North America and Asia, with systems deployed in the UK, the US, Japan and Spain. It plans to use the new funding to expand infrastructure in key markets, broaden its operational presence and continue developing its next generation of quantum systems for commercial deployment.
Quantum computing has drawn sustained attention from policymakers and investors because of its potential to tackle problems beyond the practical reach of conventional systems. Companies in financial services, defence and security are among those exploring how the technology could be applied to complex modelling, optimisation and security tasks.
Scale challenge
The investment also reflects a wider policy push to keep advanced technology companies in Britain as they move from research to commercial growth. The British Business Bank, the government’s economic development bank, has announced funding for deep technology businesses to help retain more of the economic value created by UK science.
Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, set out that view in comments accompanying the deal.
“For deeptech in the UK, the challenge is not invention, it’s scale. In order to build global companies rooted in the UK, our financial firepower must match our scientific excellence. The Bank sees this as nothing short of a national economic imperative, so we are acting at pace to deliver significantly higher levels of funding for UK scale-ups,” said Kalisperas.
George Mills, Senior Investment Director, Direct Equity, at the British Business Bank, linked the investment to the sector’s technical and commercial hurdles.
“Quantum computing has the potential to solve some of the hardest computing challenges that remain unsolved by AI, but it is held back by its ability to scale up. OQC’s systems fill that gap with their world-leading speed and scalability. We are delighted to be backing the team at OQC again as they scale up their commercial offering with the development of OQC TITAN,” said Mills.
Government backing
The deal comes amid a broader effort by the UK government to support quantum businesses as they seek larger pools of growth capital. Ministers have presented quantum technologies as an area where Britain can build companies with international reach from a domestic research base.
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the round signalled investor confidence in the sector.
“OQC’s £260 million funding round is a major vote of confidence in the UK’s quantum sector and shows that the UK continues to be the place where the industries of the future are being created. We have the right economic plan and, within it, I set out three ‘big choices’ for the UK economy, one of which is developing AI and innovation. We will always back companies to give them a head start in the global race, which is why we have recently committed up to £2bn to ensure UK quantum companies can successfully reach commercial scale,” said Reeves.
For OQC, the new capital is intended to support both international expansion and product development. The company said customers are seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure as interest in practical use cases grows.
Gerald Mullally, Chief Executive Officer of OQC, described the financing as a turning point for the business.
“This funding marks a defining moment for OQC. It gives us the capital to scale internationally, advance our technology roadmap and meet increasing demand from customers seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure. Quantum computing is becoming critical infrastructure, and OQC is building the platform to deliver it at commercial scale,” said Mullally.
