Qolab secured $54.2 million in Series B financing led by UC, to accelerate development of manufacturable superconducting QPUs, leveraging its Nobel laureate-led team and semiconductor partnerships toward fault tolerant quantum computing.
Qolab, a Santa Barbara, California-based quantum hardware company (with operations in Madison, WI), announced the initial closings of its Series B Preferred Stock financing. Together with the conversion of $12.6 million in convertible securities and a $10 million commitment for future convertible securities, this totals $54.2 million in new capital.
The round was led by UC Investments (the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer), with participation from existing investors including the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), Octave Ventures, and Phoenix Venture Partners. These backers reflect a mix of university affiliated, deep tech venture, and strategic semiconductor interests.
What is Qolab’s main focus?
Qolab develops utility scale superconducting quantum processors (QPUs) by leveraging advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques to address key scaling bottlenecks, such as reproducible high yield qubit fabrication and component integration. The company positions itself at the “integrated circuit moment” for quantum hardware, shifting from discrete, lab scale devices to manufacturable, repeatable systems suitable for fault tolerant quantum computing.
The $54.2 million will support:
- Continued development of scalable superconducting quantum technologies.
- Expansion of strategic semiconductor partnerships.
- Acceleration toward fault tolerant systems.
- Growth of the team and infrastructure (e.g., fabrication and testing capabilities).
This follows prior funding (roughly $16–22.5 million in Seed/Series A rounds from investors like Octave Ventures, Development Bank of Japan, Applied Ventures, Western Digital, WARF, and Phoenix Venture Partners) and builds on milestones such as high quality qubits on 300mm fabrication tools and the launch of Qolab Start, its first deployable superconducting QPU platform for research, characterization, and workforce development (available on-premise or via cloud).
Who are Qolab’s leaders?
The founding team brings exceptional credibility from foundational contributions to superconducting quantum computing:
- Alan Ho (CEO, Co-founder): Former Head of Product at Google Quantum AI, where he contributed to the 2019 quantum supremacy demonstration.
- John Martinis (CTO, Co-founder): 2025 Nobel laureate in Physics for pioneering superconducting qubits; long time leader in scalable quantum systems (previously at Google and UC Santa Barbara).
- Robert McDermott (Head of Hardware, Co-founder): UW–Madison professor specializing in superconducting qubits, measurement, and scalable systems.
- Additional experts like Britton Plourde, Roman Caudillo, and Shariq Siddiqui focus on readout/control, materials/semiconductor R&D, and manufacturing scale-up.
The announcement coincided with the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where Martinis participated, underscoring ties to elite scientific networks.
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Qolab emphasizes deep integration with semiconductor leaders (e.g., collaborations with Applied Materials via Applied Ventures, Western Digital) to adapt advanced fabrication processes for quantum. It also partners with institutions like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (via the Quantum Systems Accelerator) and UC Santa Barbara researchers for algorithm development and next gen systems. These relationships aim to solve manufacturing challenges that have historically limited qubit yield and coherence in superconducting architectures.
In the quantum hardware sector, superconducting qubits (pioneered by teams like Martinis’) remain a leading modality alongside trapped ions, neutral atoms, and photonics. Qolab differentiates through a strong focus on semiconductor style manufacturability, targeting higher reproducibility and integration to bridge the gap from NISQ (noisy intermediate scale quantum) devices to fault tolerant, utility scale machines. This aligns with broader industry needs for error corrected systems capable of practical applications in optimization, simulation, and machine learning.
The timing reflects growing investor interest in hardware bets with credible paths to scale, especially those leveraging existing semiconductor infrastructure amid long development timelines and high capital requirements. UC Investments’ lead role signals confidence in both the technology and its potential broader impact on the UC research ecosystem.
This Series B provides substantial runway for a hardware focused startup in a capital intensive field. It strengthens Qolab’s position to advance its roadmap, hire talent (e.g., quantum hardware engineers in Madison), and deepen industry-academia ties. Success hinges on executing on qubit quality/yield improvements and demonstrating progress toward larger, more reliable QPUs, challenges shared across the quantum industry but directly targeted by Qolab’s semiconductor centric approach.
Overall, the round validates the team’s pedigree and strategy while positioning Qolab as a notable player in the race for practical quantum advantage.
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