Quantum Motion closes $160M Series C co-led by DCVC and Kembara, becoming the UK's best-funded quantum computing company and the largest dedicated silicon-spin-qubit financing on record
On 2026-05-07, London-headquartered Quantum Motion Technologies announced a $160M Series C funding round, co-led by DCVC (Data Collective DCVC, US deep-tech venture firm) and Kembara, the deep-tech vehicle of Mundi Ventures. New investors include the British Business Bank (UK government-owned development bank) and Firgun. Returning investors include Oxford Science Enterprises, Inkef, Bosch Ventures (Robert Bosch Venture Capital), Porsche Automobil Holding SE, and Parkwalk Advisors. According to coverage by Reuters, The Quantum Insider, Quantum Computing Report, and SiliconANGLE referencing the Quantum Motion press release, the round positions Quantum Motion as the UK's best-funded quantum computing company. Technically, Quantum Motion builds silicon-CMOS spin-qubit processors that trap single electron spins in standard silicon transistor structures, fabricated through GlobalFoundries' commercial CMOS process. The company says its Hoxton readout chip integrates qubits and control circuitry in a single package with approximately 100x readout sensitivity versus competing approaches. Per Quantum Motion's prior public disclosures, the company delivered the first commercial full-stack silicon CMOS quantum computer to the UK National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in 2025 and advanced to Stage B of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. Workforce has grown from approximately 30 employees in 2022 to over 120 in 2026 across UK, Spain, and Australia sites. The CEO James Palles-Dimmock framed the round around silicon as the scaling substrate; DCVC's operating partner Prineha Narang summarised the thesis as the platform that scales. The round is the second-largest private funding ever recorded for a dedicated quantum-processor company, trailing only QuantWare's $178M Series B closed two days earlier (2026-05-05).
Score 7 — anchor row §8.2 7 ('Major fund raise, $50-150M Series for hardware company') escalated by the $160M round size sitting above the $150M anchor ceiling and by the modality-leadership framing: Quantum Motion is now the most heavily capitalised dedicated silicon-spin-qubit player by an order of magnitude, materially differentiating the spin-qubit modality which prior to today had no comparable financing milestone in the trailing 90-day cache. Per scoring-rubric.md, the round size, named lead investors (DCVC + Kembara, with British Business Bank as new sovereign participant), GlobalFoundries CMOS path, and DARPA QBI Stage B advancement together support a 7. Held below score 8 because QuantWare's $178M Series B two days earlier already reset the modality-leading record for dedicated quantum-processor financings and Quantum Motion does not displace that benchmark; close-call rounds down per CLAUDE.md. Source confidence high (Reuters wire, Quantum Motion press release, four trade-press confirmations); interpretation confidence high.
Materially advances the spin-qubit modality from minor (1@5.0 in the prior trailing-30 momentum bucket, anchored by Groove Quantum 2026-04-30 deferred to weekly) to a credible third pillar alongside trapped-ion and superconducting. Establishes the second cross-modality strategic-corporate pattern in two weeks: Bosch Ventures and Porsche Automobil Holding follow-on at Quantum Motion mirrors the Intel Capital lead at QuantWare and the Schwarz Digits lead at eleQtron, suggesting a 2026 Q2 inflection in European industrial-strategic quantum capital deployment across all three leading modalities. Pressures other silicon-spin-qubit names — Quantum Source, Equal1, Diraq, SemiQon, Groove Quantum (recently emerged at €10M seed) — to articulate comparable financing or commercial-deployment milestones. Reinforces the GlobalFoundries position as the de facto quantum CMOS foundry partner, alongside its prior PsiQuantum silicon-photonic engagement. Adds to the open thread 'European superconducting open-architecture capital concentration' by extending the European quantum capital concentration thesis cross-modality (silicon-spin now joining superconducting). Strengthens the UK national-quantum-strategy backing visible in the British Business Bank participation, which complements the prior NQCC commercial deployment and the broader UK ProQure procurement programme thread (state.json open_threads). Watch for: (a) follow-on shipment / commercial deployment announcements at NQCC and other DARPA QBI Stage B participants; (b) GlobalFoundries process-integration disclosures with Quantum Motion; (c) any peer round at Diraq, Equal1, or Quantum Source sized to test whether Quantum Motion's lead is durable; (d) Quantum Motion roadmap update on near-term qubit-count and fidelity milestones, none of which were disclosed in the round announcement.