Finnish quantitative unicorn IQM is set to go public

Finnish unicorn IQM today announced plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), valuing the company at approximately US$1.8 billion. The move will see IQM join the growing group of quantum computing companies listed on US stock markets.

Founded in 2018 as a spin-out of Finland’s Aalto University and technical research firm VTT, IQM markets both on-premises full-stack quantum computers and a cloud platform for accessing their systems, with customers including academic and industrial laboratories around the world.

Public quantum companies have seen their stocks rise in recent months, fueled by signals from governments and big tech companies that “quantum advantage” over regular supercomputers may soon be within reach. This has prompted believers to redouble their efforts, convinced that this field will soon have lucrative real-world applications in life sciences, new materials, and much more.

Going public will provide IQM with an extended runway to support its business plans. The company reported $35 million in revenue in 2025 and more than $100 million in bookings. With the completion of this transaction, its cash position will exceed $450 million. But the company could also see its market cap trend up or down, depending on how investors’ appetite for quantum stocks develops when they begin trading.

Since industrial applications are still years away, questions remain about whether the current quantum craze will continue. These questions arise to a greater extent because most of these companies have gone public via SPACs — a faster route than a traditional IPO, but one that peaked in 2021 and left many investors suffering losses in its wake.

Despite this bitter taste, quantum SPACs are back in fashion. Earlier this month, atom-neutral quantum startup Infleqtion made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via SPAC, with Canadian company Xanadu Quantum Technologies planning to go public via SPAC on the Nasdaq by the end of March.

Now, IQM is following in its footsteps but is considering entering the public markets on both US and Nordic stock exchanges. In the United States, it may go public either on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange — the blank check company, in its case, is a Nasdaq-listed vehicle, Real Asset Acquisition Corp., but as a foreign corporation, it will list American Depositary Shares, and the listing is subject to approval.

According to Crunchbase, IQM has raised about $569.1 million to date. Its latest funding round was a $320 million Series B led by US investment firm Ten Eleven Ventures with participation from Finnish investment firm Tesi, Schwarz Group, Winbond Electronics Corporation, EIC, Bayern Capital, and World Fund.