Nord Quantique CEO Julien Camirand Lemyre shows off a qubit at the quantum computing startup's lab in Sherbrooke, Que., on May 12, 2025.Evan Buhler/The Globe and Mail
A fourth Canadian-founded quantum computing startup has secured a 10-figure valuation.
Nord Quantique Inc. quietly raised US$30-million in March from U.S. fund management giant Fidelity in a deal valuing the Sherbrooke, Que., technology developer at US$1.4-billion, said three sources familiar with the matter. Two sources said the investment could ultimately anchor a larger financing. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources as they are not authorized to discuss the matter.
The company, led by physicist Julien Camirand Lemyre, follows D-Wave Quantum Inc., founded in B.C. but now based in Florida; Toronto-based Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc.; and Vancouver’s Photonic Inc. in achieving billion-dollar-plus valuations. Photonic on Tuesday said it had closed a US$200-million financing, first announced in January, that valued it at US$2-billion. Xanadu went public in March by combining with a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC); its valuation has topped US$10-billion at times since then.
Canada is an early leader in a global race to develop quantum computers, which derive their power by tapping into the peculiar properties of subatomic particles. The machines are expected to some day solve tasks out of reach for the world’s most advanced computers, opening new applications in financial forecasting, machine learning and drug and material discovery.
No one has yet produced a machine that can do that. But 11 companies, including Nord Quantique, Xanadu and Photonic, have advanced to the second stage of a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, competition challenging developers to show they can build a commercial-grade quantum computer by 2033. Those who complete the program could receive US$300-million from DARPA. The Canadian government has committed up to $23-million to each Canadian DARPA contestant – matching the U.S. funding they’ve already qualified for – and a fourth player, Anyon Systems Inc., which isn’t participating but has sold a system to the Department of National Defence.
Quantum computers could also enable bad actors to pick the locks on cryptography algorithms that secure the world’s digital economy. Canada’s intelligence and defence establishment has recognized the threat, and governments and financial-sector players have been put on notice to quantum-proof critical infrastructure.
Fidelity, through its array of global funds, has invested in the quantum space before. Fidelity funds were among the early backers of D-Wave and last year participated in a US$800-million financing by Honeywell spinout Quantinuum. A Fidelity spokesman declined to comment.
Nord Quantique spun out of the Institut Quantique at l’Université de Sherbrooke in 2020. The institute and the location of a nearby semiconductor manufacturing corridor in Quebec have helped turn Sherbrooke into one of the country’s quantum sciences hotbeds. Sherbrooke has launched several other startups applying quantum technologies, including SBQuantum Qubic Technologies, and is home to Quantacet, Canada’s first quantum-focused venture capital firm.
Quantacet is one of Nord Quantique’s early backers, along with Canadian financiers Real Ventures, Panache Ventures, Business Development Bank of Canada and ACET Capital; U.S.-based Quantonation and Presidio Ventures; and French private capital financier Audacia. Canadian investors have been heavy backers of the quantum space, including pension funds, banks, venture capital firms, Crown corporations and wealthy entrepreneurs.
There are several approaches to making a quantum computer, which replaces the digital 1s and 0s of classical computers with qubits – encoded, measurable subatomic systems that can be composed of photons, electrons, trapped ions or superconducting circuits. They can exist in multiple states simultaneously, thanks to the weird rules of quantum physics, contributing to their computing strength.
But qubits are sensitive to even the slightest disturbances and can easily fall out of their quantum state. Most quantum computers require elaborate cryogenic facilities to minimize vibrations and keep qubits at temperatures colder than deep space. They also need to generate a large number of qubits to keep tabs on and compensate for those that fall into an error state and ensure there are enough qubits available to perform calculations.
Nord Quantique’s approach is more economical and involves correcting errors at the hardware level to vastly reduce the number of qubits required to make its system work.
Its approach, which involves manipulating microwaves in a supercooled cavity, means the company doesn’t require additional hardware, enabling it to keep its systems smaller, cheaper, less complex and more energy-efficient than other approaches. That will help it develop more machines that can fit into existing data centres, the company has promised.
While other quantum computer companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars so far, Nord Quantique has brought in less than US$100-million in financing.
With reports from Ivan Semeniuk