By Anne Kauranen
HELSINKI, March 30 (Reuters) - IQM Quantum Computers has secured 50 million euros ($57.64 million) in venture financing from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock to accelerate its global growth, the Finnish company told Reuters, ahead of its planned dual listing on the U.S. and Helsinki stock markets.
IQM said in February it was aiming to list its shares later this year on the U.S. stock market through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company,
with an initial equity valuation of around $1.8 billion.
In a separate social media post on Thursday, BlackRock said quantum computing represented "the next era of computing".
The additional funding, which is being announced on Monday, will help the Finnish company scale operations, accelerate its chip and technology development, and strengthen its market position, IQM CEO Jan Goetz said.
"It's basically a question of ramping up the commercial traction to bring us to profitability," he told Reuters.
AT THE CORE OF TECH STRATEGIES
IQM, which sells quantum computers and cloud computing time, roughly doubled its sales to around $35 million last year and said it had bookings worth more than $100 million at the end of the year.
"What we also yet haven't fully tapped into is the whole field of private data centres," Goetz said, referring to hardware sales.
"Quantum is at the core of the tech strategies of nations around the world," he added.
AI and quantum approach problem solving in fundamentally different ways, Tony Kim, head of the global technology team within the Fundamental Equities division of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group, said in a separate video post.
"AI reasons from data. Quantum reasons from physics. Together though, they could reshape what is computationally possible," Kim said.
($1 = 0.8675 euros)
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Editing by Paul Simao)
