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Q-CTRL raises US$290 million in a Series C led by Salesforce Ventures

Q-CTRL sells error-reducing software that runs on other companies' quantum machines, and a quantum navigation system. It gave no valuation or revenue.

Main takeaways

  • Q-CTRL raised US$290 million (A$415 million) in a Series C led by Salesforce Ventures, the company said on November 12, 2026.
  • The company did not disclose a valuation. It calls itself a “unicorn”, the usual term for a private company valued at $1 billion or more.
  • The round is about 2.6 times the US$113 million Series B that Q-CTRL completed in October 2024.
  • New investors include AMD Ventures, Affinity Partners and Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation. In-Q-Tel and Lockheed Martin Ventures invested again.
  • Q-CTRL gave no date for a next milestone. It said the money goes to its software, to scaling globally across sectors, and to its autonomy and aerospace programs.

Q-CTRL, a private company that sells software for quantum computers and quantum sensors, raised US$290 million (A$415 million) in a Series C round led by Salesforce Ventures, the company said on November 12. The round is about 2.6 times the size of its previous one, and the company did not say at what valuation it was priced.

The release calls Q-CTRL “the newest quantum-sector unicorn”, the usual term for a private company valued at $1 billion or more, without giving a figure. It also describes the round as oversubscribed and as the largest fundraise in the quantum sector for a business focused on software. Those are the company’s descriptions.

Bullhound Capital, a returning investor, and Affinity Partners, a new one, took large parts of the round, the release said. The other new investors are AMD Ventures, EDGE Group, MPower Partners, Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and SPARX Asset Management. Returning investors include In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, DCVC, Main Sequence and Square Peg.

Q-CTRL said it will spend the money on its software and on expanding to meet demand in sectors “from finance to energy”, and on its autonomy and aerospace programs. Per Roman, a Bullhound Capital founding partner who sits on Q-CTRL’s board, said in the release that the company has “real customers and real revenue”. The release gives no revenue figure.

What does Q-CTRL sell?

Quantum computers and quantum sensors are easily disturbed by their surroundings, which causes errors. Q-CTRL sells software that reduces those errors on hardware built by others.

Fire Opal is a cloud product that applies what the company calls automated error suppression when a program runs on a quantum computer. Ironstone Opal is a navigation system for when GPS is unavailable. Its quantum sensors measure small variations in Earth’s magnetic and gravitational fields and match them against maps to give a position.

The release says Ironstone Opal performs “100 times better than the best alternative” and is being deployed on commercial aircraft with Airbus and on autonomous platforms with Lockheed Martin. In April 2025 the company reported field trials in which the system beat a conventional GPS backup “by up to 50x”. Q-CTRL also says its software has already delivered quantum advantage, meaning a quantum device doing a useful task better than the conventional alternative. All of these are the company’s own claims and measurements.

How does this compare with Q-CTRL’s earlier rounds?

Q-CTRL announced a $25 million Series B led by Airbus Ventures on November 30, 2021. On October 8, 2024, it said it had expanded that round to US$113 million, with US$59 million of new capital in a part led by GP Bullhound. Salesforce Ventures and Lockheed Martin Ventures were both in that expansion.

The Series B and Series C together come to US$403 million.

Why it matters

  • Company: Q-CTRL, private.
  • Cash: US$290 million raised in the Series C. The release does not split it between new capital and any shares sold by existing holders.
  • What is missing: the valuation and the revenue. Without them the round gives no price reference for quantum software, only a size.
  • Position: Q-CTRL sells software that runs on other companies’ machines, so it does not depend on one type of quantum hardware winning. The release calls its platform “hardware-agnostic”.
  • Investors: the venture arms of Salesforce, AMD and Lockheed Martin are all in the round, with In-Q-Tel.
  • Next: the release gives no date for a product, a contract or a further financing.

The Many Worlds Team

Last checked 2026-11-12

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