Oratomic locks in $300M Series A to chase fault-tolerant quantum computing with light and atoms

Oratomic, a Pasadena-based startup developing fault-tolerant quantum computing architectures, has raised $300 million in Series A funding. The round was led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

The company is focused on building what it calls the world’s first utility-scale quantum computers. Its approach relies on a new regime of ultra-efficient error correction that uses only light and atoms. Oratomic argues that until now, the overhead of error correction has made fault-tolerant quantum computing impractical. Its technology targets scientific discoveries and new paradigms in artificial intelligence.

The funding will support Oratomic’s work on fault-tolerant quantum computing, enabled by its approach to quantum error correction. The company’s team includes expertise in quantum error correction, neutral atom systems, artificial intelligence, and optical engineering. Named team members include Dolev Bluvstein, Madelyn Cain, Anthony Chen, Jacob Covey, Jackson Ellis, Manuel Endres, Simon Evered, Andrei Faraon, Hsin-Yuan Huang (Robert), Robbie King, Harry Levine, Hannah Manetsch, Lewis Picard, Nickolas Pilgram, John Preskill, Harald Putterman, and Qian Xu.

The $300 million Series A arrives as quantum computing startups compete to overcome error rates that have long constrained the field. Oratomic is betting that its light-and-atom architecture can cross the fault-tolerance threshold and deliver practical machines.