Finnish quantum computer maker IQM set to go public via SPAC

IQM, a Finnish quantum-computing company, has announced plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a deal that would value the company at approximately $1.8 billion. The move would make IQM the latest in a growing cohort of quantum computing companies to list on U.S. stock markets. The company is considering entering public markets on both a U.S. exchange — either the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — and a Nordic exchange. In the U.S., IQM would merge with Real Asset Acquisition Corp., a Nasdaq-listed blank-check company; because IQM is a foreign company, it would list American Depositary Shares, and the listing remains subject to approval.

Founded in 2018 as a spinout from Finland’s Aalto University and VTT Technical Research, IQM builds both on-premises full-stack quantum computers and a cloud platform for accessing its systems, serving academic and industrial-lab clients around the world. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised some $569.1 million to date, including a $320 million Series B round led by U.S. investment firm Ten Eleven Ventures, with participation from Finnish firm Tesi, Schwarz Group, Winbond Electronics Corporation, the EIC, Bayern Kapital, and World Fund.

Going public would give IQM an extended runway to fund its commercial plans. The company reported:

• $35 million in 2025 revenue
• over $100 million in bookings
• a cash position that will exceed $450 million once the transaction closes

Its market capitalization could trend upward or downward after that, depending on how investor appetite for quantum stocks has evolved by the time it begins trading.

Public quantum-computing stocks have surged in recent months, fueled by signals from governments and Big Tech that a “quantum advantage” over regular supercomputers may soon be within reach — a conviction driving belief that the field will soon have lucrative real-life applications in life sciences, new materials, and more. IQM would follow two other recent quantum SPAC moves: neutral-atom quantum company Infleqtion, which debuted on the NYSE via a SPAC earlier this month, and Canadian firm Xanadu Quantum Technologies, which plans to go public via a SPAC on the Nasdaq by the end of March. Still, with industrial applications years away and most of these companies going public through SPACs — a route faster than a traditional IPO that peaked in 2021 and left many investors nursing losses — questions remain about whether the current quantum frenzy will last.

Why it matters

Going public would hand IQM a cash position exceeding $450 million to fund years of further development, but it also ties the company’s fortunes to a public market whose appetite for quantum stocks is being tested through an SPAC wave that echoes the one that peaked, then soured, in 2021.