D-Wave completes $175-million USD stock sale to fuel quantum computing development

D-Wave Quantum has raised $175 million USD ($246 million CAD) in gross proceeds through a recent stock sale.

The Canadian-founded, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed quantum computing company plans to use this capital to fuel its technical development efforts and business operations. Following this financing, D-Wave expects to close out 2024 with at least $160 million in cash.

D-Wave generated $1.9 million in revenue and a net loss of $23 million in Q3.

In a statement, D-Wave president and CEO Alan Baratz said that the fundraise “substantially improves the company’s financial strength, positioning D-Wave for the future and enabling us to fully execute against our product and go-to-market strategies and roadmaps.”

Founded in 1999, D-Wave builds and sells quantum computing systems, software, and services. D-Wave has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to date and spent 25 years developing its quantum computing tech, but the company remains in the early stages of building a sustainable business as it continues to incur heavy losses.

During the third quarter, D-Wave generated approximately $1.9 million in revenue, a 27 percent drop year-over-year, according to its latest earnings report. The company’s operating expenses were $21.7 million and its net loss was nearly $23 million, up nine percent and 41 percent respectively relative to the same period last year.

The quantum computing firm went public on the NYSE just over two years ago through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in 2022. D-Wave, which became a Delaware-domiciled corporation as part of the transaction, had initially hoped to raise up to $340 million via the deal, but secured only a fraction of that amount, leaving it facing a cash crunch.

Last summer, the company lost its outside accounting firm and shared plans to move its principal executive office from Canada to the US. Though D-Wave now lists its headquarters as Palo Alto, Calif. on LinkedIn, the company still has operations in Burnaby, BC, where its quantum engineering centre is located, and a strong presence in Canada.

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Over the past two years, D-Wave has faced multiple non-compliance warnings for failing to meet the NYSE’s continued listing standard for minimum stock price, as its shares repeatedly fell below $1 apiece for more than 30 consecutive days.

At time of publication, D-Wave’s shares are trading at $3.91 apiece—down nearly 64 percent since the company went public in mid-2022, but up 320 percent over the past year.

In 2024, D-Wave expects it will have lost less than the $54-million adjusted earnings before income, taxes, depreciation, and amortization loss the company posted last year.

Feature image courtesy D-Wave.