Quantum Applications Company Zapata Computing Raises $38 Million

By Annie Baker ● Nov 23, 2020
  • Zapata Computing — a leading enterprise software company for NISQ-based quantum applications — announced that it has raised $38 million in Series B funding

Zapata Computing — a leading enterprise software company for NISQ-based quantum applications — announced that it has raised $38 million in Series B funding. Including this round of funding, the company has raised over $64 million. This round of funding was led by Comcast Ventures, Pitango, and Prelude Ventures with support of additional existing Series A investors, including BASF Venture Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital and The Engine as well as new investors Ahren Innovation Capital, Alumni Ventures Group, Honeywell Venture Capital, ITOCHU Corporation and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. 

This financing testifies to the investors’ belief in the promise of quantum computing along with Zapata’s significant progress since its Series A financing last year. In addition to launching quantum computing’s only workflow management platform Orquestra, Zapata’s active research continues to make notable contributions to the field in optimizing quantum hardware, benchmarking quantum applications and advancing quantum machine learning. And Zapata is working with hardware partners, including IBM, Honeywell and IonQ, and numerous enterprise customers to accelerate the real-world impact of this disruptive technology.

Zapata will be using the new round of funding for three main goals: 1.) driving the adoption of quantum-enabled workflows for data analytics 2.) scaling the team and 3.) moving enterprise customers closer to quantum advantage.

Zapata will be using the new round of funding for three main goals: 1.) driving the adoption of quantum-enabled workflows for data analytics 2.) scaling the team and 3.) moving enterprise customers closer to quantum advantage.

KEY QUOTES:

“We’re excited to explore applications of quantum computing technologies within the life sciences space and believe Zapata will be an important innovator in this field and others.”

— Prem Tumkosit, Managing Director, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund

“Zapata’s Orquestra makes quantum computing tangible and compatible with leading enterprises’ data analytics architectures. At ITOCHU, we look forward to developing the quantum computing ecosystem both in Japan and globally with Zapata.”

— Hiroshi Kajiwara, Chief Operation Officer, ICT Division, ITOCHU

“As an investor, customer and licensed user of Orquestra, BASF’s relationship with Zapata lets us explore real quantum computing applications and build capabilities to help us compete in the quantum era.”

— Markus Solibieda, Managing Director, BASF Venture Capital

“We’ve been intrigued by Zapata’s advances in the quantum algorithm space. Together with this strong group, we are excited to support Zapata to apply their Orquestra platform to accelerate progress toward disruptive quantum advantage.”

— Alice Newcombe-Ellis, Founding & Managing Partner, Ahren Innovation Capital

“We’re proud to continue our investment in Zapata. With this funding, we aim to empower the team to deliver quantum-inspired business impact for the enterprise today, as well as enable quantum readiness for tomorrow. Zapata is positioned to play a central role in quantum computing’s rapid evolution.”

— Gil Beyda, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures