Roblox CEO, Singapore Fund Join $100 Million Round in Universal Quantum

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(Bloomberg) — A British startup seeking to build a working quantum computer has raised $100 million from a range of investors, including a Singapore government fund and Roblox Corp. Chief Executive Officer David Baszucki.

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Universal Quantum will use the Series A financing to expand research hubs in Germany and Singapore, it said in a statement Thursday. Investment firm DCVC and Firgun Ventures co-led the round, with participation from Singapore’s EDBI, Baszucki and others.

The investor base is “meant to be as global and sovereign as possible, aligning where we’d like to be more active,” Universal Quantum CEO Sebastian Weidt said. He declined to share the company’s valuation.

Universal Quantum is among a wave of startups and corporate labs striving to create new machines capable of solving problems classical computers can’t, potentially leading to breakthroughs in fields like medicine and finance. Several quantum firms have gone public recently as the technology moves closer to useful applications. Major banks have hired experts in the technology, and governments are investing in the sector that has the potential to break existing encryption standards that protect data online.

Still, quantum machines currently are mainly used for research.

In May, the US agreed to invest $2 billion into companies developing quantum computers and chips. Earlier in the year, the UK government pledged to spend £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on the tech over the next four years.

Universal Quantum has won contracts to develop computers for the German government. Weidt, who co-founded the startup from research at England’s University of Sussex, said the company didn’t get UK public support in the latest funding round.

Weidt said Universal Quantum’s current commercial strategy operates like a consultant, where his engineers help public agencies and businesses prepare to run software on the startup’s computers once they are functional. He decline to share revenue figures.

Universal Quantum is backing a trapped-ion system, which uses suspended charged atoms and lasers to perform quantum calculations. Some of its competitors, including Google and Microsoft Corp., are building larger machines that use processors made from superconducting materials. Weidt said his approach offers the best way to create a dependable working computer with minimal errors.