The sum represents the largest ever Series A (i.e. first substantial funding) amount secured by a UK quantum company and signifies an important milestone in this country’s quantum commercialisation ambition.  

Universal Quantum was founded in 2018 by Professor Winfried Hensinger and Dr Sebastian Weidt from the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies. Based on research by the pair who published a first practical blueprint for a large-scale trapped-ion quantum computer in 2017, the company’s focus is on scalability – pursued through linking smaller trapped-ion quantum chips to reach the high-quality qubit count needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing, without relying on photonic interconnects or large, costly lasers and cooling infrastructure.  

To find out more about this development, read the University of Sussex full press release.  

To learn more about the research and training activities of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies, visit their website.