Oratomic raises $475M Series B, hitting $5.4B three months after its Series A
What's the deal? Quantum computing startup Oratomic has raised $475 million in a Series B, lifting its valuation to $5.4 billion from $1.5 billion. The round came just three months after its Series A and brings total funding to $775 million.
Who's backing it? ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Khosla Ventures, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Bezos Expeditions co-led the round. After the Series A, Vinod Khosla compared the bet to his firm's early investment in OpenAI.
By the numbers: It is the largest US Series B ever raised in quantum technologies, topping all 62 such rounds on record.
What's the endgame? The Pasadena, California company, founded in 2025, is building a large, error-corrected quantum computer that runs reliably. Chief executive and co-founder Dolev Bluvstein says a useful machine needs only 10,000 qubits, far below the previous industry consensus of about one million.
Why now? Bluvstein is directing the new money at technical and engineering hurdles. He expects the computer to be ready by 2030.
"We need to cross this tipping point where we can build a working computer that is cheap and manufacturable," Bluvstein told The Wall Street Journal .
The ecosystem: On the same day, British startup Universal Quantum announced a Series A of more than $100 million, which it says is the largest ever by a UK-headquartered quantum company. Gartner, meanwhile, forecast worldwide quantum computing revenue of $1.1 billion in 2027, up from $869.9 million in 2026.
What could go wrong? Gartner calls the market overcrowded and expects more than half of quantum computing startups to close by 2030 as revenue runs out. It says buyers will reject qubit types that cannot deliver fault-tolerant, self-correcting computing.
The signal: Investor enthusiasm for quantum is climbing even as analysts warn of a coming shakeout. Record rounds like Oratomic's reflect a bet that a few well-funded players will cross the commercial tipping point before the rest run dry.
Read more: thenextweb.com, The Wall Street Journal
Image credit: jurvetson
