- D-Wave Systems announced it entered into a definitive transaction agreement with DPCM Capital to go public. These are the details.
D-Wave Systems — a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, and the only provider building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers — announced that it has entered into a definitive transaction agreement with DPCM Capital, Inc. (NYSE: XPOA), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company.
This transaction is expected to enhance D-Wave’s leadership in commercial quantum computing and accelerate quantum use cases into significant customer segments, including manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceuticals, finance, and government. And upon closing of the deal, the shares of D-Wave Quantum, a newly formed parent company of D-Wave and DPCM Capital, are expected to trade on the NYSE under the symbol “QBTS.”
The computational value of quantum computing underpins the promise of even greater societal and business impact — from the creation of new products and identification of new lines of business to solutions unimagined in weather modeling, global supply chain distribution, financial market optimization, drug discovery, and new materials.
D-Wave plans to use the proceeds from the transaction to further accelerate its delivery of in-production quantum applications for blue-chip customers and to build on the 200 plus U.S. patents that have been granted to D-Wave since its founding in 1999. This deal also represents a milestone in Canada’s market-leading development of a robust quantum ecosystem.
Ground-breaking research and development (R&D) is going to continue to be centered at D-Wave’s British Columbia-based Quantum Center for Excellence. And D-Wave’s R&D focus will be on the next generations of annealing quantum computers, advancing its gate-model program, and continuing to enhance D-Wave’s Leap quantum cloud service, hybrid solvers, and software development tools. Plus D-Wave expects to continue to grow its global footprint beyond the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Singapore, and Australia to other emerging markets for quantum computing.
The need for quantum is real today, and it is accelerating. For example: In a 2020 report by 451 Research (a S&P Global market intelligence company), 31% of enterprises surveyed stated that they had abandoned complex problems because of the time required for resolution. And the report also found that 39% of companies are currently experimenting with quantum computing, and 81% of companies plan to have quantum use cases in the next three years.
D-Wave’s commercial customers include industry leaders like Volkswagen, Toyota’s R&D Labs, Accenture, BBVA, NEC Corporation, Save-On-Foods, DENSO, and Lockheed Martin. And in addition to the enterprise customers already actively using D-Wave, thousands of developers across the globe have built hundreds of early quantum applications in diverse areas that include resource scheduling, mobility, logistics, drug discovery, portfolio optimization, manufacturing processes, and many more.
D-Wave is known as the only company in the world building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers. This is important since different types of quantum systems benefit different types of quantum applications: D-Wave’s annealing systems are designed to unlock complex optimization problems; gate-model and annealing systems can both solve linear algebraic and factoring problems such as those in machine learning and cryptography; and D-Wave’s gate-model program is expected to produce systems that are most suited for differential equations, like those in quantum chemistry.
D-Wave is known as the first and only provider to offer real-time and full-stack quantum systems: from superconducting quantum processing unit (QPU) chip fabrication that powers the quantum systems, to hardware engineering, post-processing software, quantum hybrid solvers, and open-source developer tools. This approach — coupled with real-time quantum cloud delivery of these products — yields a regular, rapid product-to-market benefit for customers.
Plus D-Wave is also the only company today with a quantum computer that supports business applications at a production scale. And delivered as Quantum Computing as a Service (QCaaS) in D-Wave’s Leap quantum-cloud service and available in 38 countries, D-Wave provides both broad access and professional services-enabled quantum hybrid application development.
The deal values D-Wave at an equity value of approximately $1.2 billion. And the deal also includes an innovative incentive structure, whereby a bonus pool of 5 million shares will be allocated pro-rata to non-redeeming public stockholders of DPCM Capital, effectively reducing their cost basis. A similar bonus pool of up to 1.8 million shares has been established for Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) investors to ensure the same effective cost basis for PIPE investors as for public stockholders of DPCM Capital.
The combined company will receive $300 million in gross proceeds from DPCM Capital’s trust account—assuming no redemptions by DPCM Capital’s public stockholders—as well as $40 million in gross proceeds from a group of strategic and institutional investors participating in the transaction via a committed PIPE. This PIPE is led by new and existing investors including leading Canadian public-sector pension-plan manager PSP Investments, NEC Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Yorkville Advisors, and Aegis Group Partners.
Following the closing, the combined company will continue to operate from D-Wave’s R&D and head office location in British Columbia, Canada.
The deal, which has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of D-Wave as well as the Board of Directors of DPCM Capital, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the stockholders of DPCM Capital.
KEY QUOTES:
“Today marks an inflection point signaling that quantum computing has moved beyond just theory and government-funded research to deliver commercial quantum solutions for business. D-Wave, along with DPCM Capital and our new and long-term investors PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), NEC Corporation, Yorkville Advisors, and Aegis Group Partners, collectively believe that this isn’t a moment of hope or science. Instead, we believe this event represents a moment of practical value creation for customers and for investors. We are working with our customers to identify applications with high likelihood of quantum value and to translate those problems to run on the quantum computer and then validate that value. We expect this ‘value creation and validation’ to accelerate as an increasing number of diverse use cases emerge—creating a robust cycle of product delivery, application development, and market growth.”
— Alan Baratz, CEO, D-Wave
“While quantum computing is complex, its value and benefits are quite simple: finding solutions to problems that couldn’t be previously solved, or solving problems faster with more optimal results. D-Wave is at the forefront of developing this market, already delivering the significant benefits of quantum computing to major companies across the globe. As the only quantum computing company in the world that is building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers, D-Wave will have access to the full projected $150 billion quantum computing total addressable market (TAM). With the near-term TAM expected to exceed $1 billion, and the potential for the TAM to rapidly expand as annealing quantum computing applications mature and gate-model applications emerge, we are confident that D-Wave will continue to deliver long-term value to stockholders by accelerating the commercial quantum computing market.”
— Emil Michael, CEO, DPCM Capital
