Summary
Quantum computers are available through the cloud, and quantum sensors are flying on aircraft and sailing on ships. What holds both back is error. Quantum hardware is so sensitive to its surroundings that small disturbances corrupt its output. Q-CTRL builds AI-powered infrastructure software that solves this problem, making quantum machines useful for navigation when GPS is unavailable today, and for materials simulation as quantum computing matures. One problem, two markets: navigation is where the revenue is now, and computing is where the prize is. Salesforce Ventures first backed Q-CTRL in 2022 and is proud to lead its $290M Series C.
- Founder: Michael J. Biercuk
- Sectors: Quantum Technology, AI Infrastructure, Defense Tech
- Location: Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles, CA
The Opportunity
Quantum computers are capable of solving problems traditional computers struggle with. The most urgent demand for this technology today is in national security. Militaries rely on GPS to fly aircraft, steer ships, guide drones, and coordinate forces, and weak signals are easy to jam or spoof with inexpensive equipment. Nearly 1 million jamming or spoofing incidents were recorded worldwide in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Quantum sensors can navigate by the Earth’s own magnetic and gravitational fields instead, which no adversary can switch off.
Quantum computing is the larger long-term opportunity. Quantum computers can solve problems traditional computers struggle with, such as simulating how molecules and materials behave, work that today consumes a large share of the world’s supercomputing capacity.
Both quantum computing and quantum sensing face the same barrier to widespread adoption. Vibration, temperature shifts, and electromagnetic interference introduce errors that compound until results are unusable. The hardware works, but getting reliable output from it hasn’t been possible.
The Solution
Q-CTRL’s software uses AI to detect and suppress errors in real time on quantum hardware. The same core technology underpins its products in sensing and computing.
In sensing, Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal navigation system lets vehicles fix their position without GPS. On aircraft, it reads the Earth’s magnetic field like a fingerprint and matches it against stored maps. At sea, where gravity maps are broadly available, it uses variations in gravity instead. It emits no signal, so there is nothing for an adversary to jam, spoof, or detect. Q-CTRL reports that it outperformed the best comparable conventional system by 100x. In July 2026, it became the first quantum navigation system to achieve safety-of-flight qualification under the aviation industry’s RTCA DO-160 standard. A month later, Q-CTRL navigated a vessel in the Coral Sea to within one nautical mile without GPS, with the sensor installed in a passenger cabin rather than on a stabilized mount. Over the 83-kilometer route, it beat navigation-grade backup systems by more than 10x.
In computing, Q-CTRL’s software was the first from an outside company to be natively integrated into IBM’s quantum computing service. In May 2026, Q-CTRL used it on an IBM quantum computer to simulate how electrons behave in materials used to transmit, store, and generate energy. The run took two minutes, compared with more than 100 hours using the best classical tools, according to the company. The gain came from software, not new hardware. The market for that work already exists: about one-third of global supercomputing time goes to chemical and materials simulation.
Why We’re Backing Q-CTRL
We first invested in Q-CTRL in 2022 on the view that the most valuable position in quantum belongs to the company that makes everyone else’s hardware useful. Q-CTRL is hardware-agnostic. Its software runs on machines from multiple leading manufacturers, so every improvement in quantum hardware widens Q-CTRL’s market rather than threatening it.
Navigation is where defense and aerospace customers are pulling hardest today, and computing is where the long-term opportunity is largest. That mix is why we are leading now. Navigation produces revenue on defense and aerospace contracts we can name today, and computing gives Q-CTRL a growing position in the largest market in quantum as the hardware matures.
Q-CTRL founder Michael Biercuk is a professor of quantum physics at the University of Sydney with a PhD from Harvard. He held a research fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology under Nobel laureate David Wineland and advised the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on government investment in advanced technology. He understands both the science and how governments fund it. Customers told us the same thing in diligence: Q-CTRL is one of the few in the field that actually ships into real aircraft and real systems.
That has earned Q-CTRL customers across both markets. In defense, DARPA awarded Q-CTRL over $24M to develop navigation sensors for military vehicles, with Lockheed Martin as a subcontractor. Q-CTRL and Lockheed Martin were also awarded a Department of Defense contract to prototype a quantum navigation system, and Q-CTRL works with the Australian Department of Defence and the UK Royal Navy. In commercial aviation, Q-CTRL is working with Airbus on quantum navigation. In computing, it works with IBM.
What’s Ahead
Q-CTRL’s next phase is about scale. In sensing, that means moving navigation systems from trials into service on military aircraft, ships, drones, and commercial airliners, which runs on defense and aerospace timelines, not software timelines. In computing, it means moving quantum from milestone demonstrations into enterprise R&D. And as the U.S. and its allies plan for operations where GPS can’t be trusted, we believe Q-CTRL is well positioned to provide the backup. We’re excited to support Michael and the team as they scale by leading the company’s $290M Series C.
