Oxford Quantum Circuits Raises $350M Series C for Quantum-AI

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-03

Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), a UK-based company building quantum computers and a secure, scalable Quantum-AI data-centre platform for enterprise and government customers, has closed an oversubscribed $350 million Series C funding round. That's around 260 million pounds for those keeping score in local currency. OQC claims this is Europe's largest ever private funding round for a quantum computing company. It's a big deal, and not just for the UK. ### Who's backing this bet? The round was led by Bullhound Capital, with a long list of participants including the British Business Bank, Fynveur (advised by Invus), COFIDES, Alpha Edison, Fulcrum Asset Management, Pentland Ventures, Magdalen College Oxford, Adaptive Capital Partners, Firgun Ventures, 18 West, and Oxford Capital. Existing investors also doubled down: Oxford Science Enterprises, SBI, Chevron Technology Ventures, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co., and OTIF Ventures all joined in. That's a vote of confidence from both public and private money.  ### What does OQC actually do? Founded in 2017, OQC develops and operates superconducting quantum computers. But here's the twist: they're designed to fit right into standard data centers. You know, the kind of facilities that already power your cloud apps and AI workloads. The company has already deployed systems in the UK, US, Japan, and Spain. They claim to be Europe's first Quantum-Compute-as-a-Service provider and the only company integrating quantum computers directly into commercial data centers. Their platform combines quantum computing with trusted infrastructure and AI supercomputing. The idea is to accelerate breakthroughs across science and industry. Think financial services running risk models that classical computers can't touch, or defense agencies solving optimization problems in seconds instead of days.  ### The CEO's take Gerald Mullally, CEO of OQC, put it this way: "This is a coming-of-age moment for British quantum computing. It shows that British companies can play a leading role in a technology that will shape all our futures. Globally, it represents a clear shift in the market - from long-term promise to near-term delivery in quantum computing. For OQC, this gives us the capital to scale internationally, advance our technology roadmap, and meet increasing demand from customers seeking secure, scalable access to quantum computing infrastructure." ### What the investors see Per Roman, founder and Managing Partner of Bullhound Capital, added: "OQC is building one of the most compelling quantum computing platforms globally, with the technology, infrastructure and customer focus required to scale. As quantum computing moves into global infrastructure, OQC is positioned to shape that transition. We are pleased to lead this round and support the company's next phase of growth." ### The tech behind it Dr. Peter Leek, founder and Chief Scientific Officer, explained the engineering philosophy: "OQC was founded to use innovative quantum circuit designs to build engineered systems that scale as simply as possible. I'm proud to be part of the incredible team we have today doing exactly that, to pioneer the future of quantum computing. This investment supports the next stage of our work: advancing system performance and reliability while continuing to integrate quantum computers into the trusted infrastructure customers depend on." The company builds what they call Application Optimised Compute -- quantum computers engineered specifically for the commercial advantage era. That's jargon for: making quantum actually useful for real business problems, not just lab experiments. ### Where's the money going? OQC plans to use this funding to expand its operational presence in priority markets and accelerate its roadmap toward commercially useful, fault-tolerant quantum computing. In 2022, the company closed the first part of its Series A at about $44 million. So this Series C is a serious step up. Enterprise and government customers across financial services, defense, and security are driving demand. They need secure, scalable quantum infrastructure to tackle problems beyond the practical reach of classical computing. OQC is betting that integrating quantum directly into data centers -- where sensitive data already lives -- will be the key to winning those contracts.