Australia’s equity stake in PsiQuantum could represent as much as a third of the Californian startup’s latest capital raise, which values the company at twice what it was worth just four years ago.
Early details on the late-stage funding round emerged earlier this week, with Reuters reporting that the incomplete Series E led by investment giant Blackrock will raise at least US$750 million (A$1.19 billion).
It came on the same day that Budget documents revealed the federal government’s equity investment in the company vying to build the world’s first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer would be “drawn down” before the end of June.
The federal and Queensland governments have each invested US$125 million as part of a financial package announced in April last year, although it is conditional on PsiQuantum completing further capital raising.
“There are a range of conditions that the company has to do, including an equity raise more broadly, because the facility, obviously, is going to cost more than the Commonwealth’s investment,” Finance assistant secretary Cameron Jose said last year.
As of February, PsiQuantum had received the equity investment in the form of an “equity note that has been constructed as a loan instrument”, Industry department secretary Meghan Quinn told Senate Estimates last month.
But Ms Quinn would not say at what milestone needed to be passed before the equity note would be converted to equity, saying that the trigger is “covered by the commercial confidentiality requirements” negotiated with the company.
“There are milestones they have to meet across a range of different factors, including governance, funding, and technological and regulatory approvals. There’s a whole sequence of steps and gates that they need to go through in terms of the reason the release of various elements of the funding.”
Budget papers released on Tuesday show that the federal government expects its equity investment “will have been drawn down” before the end of this financial year. It is unclear whether this refers to the equity note or equity.
A further $275 million in loans is also yet to be drawn down by the company, according to Budget papers. In November, InnovationAus.com reported that PsiQuantum was also yet to meet the terms of its debt agreement with the Commonwealth.
Having reached the point of “mass-manufacturable chips” last month, the company is targeting 2027 for the world’s fist utility-scale, error-corrected quantum computer at its proposed facility at Brisbane Airport.
Last week, US engineering firm Jacobs was selected to deliver master planning, schematic design and owner’s engineer services for the 540,000 square foot Brisbane facility, which will include a cryoplant — which is comparable to the size of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California.
Construction is expected to get underway “later in 2025 and be completed by the end of 2027”, Jacobs said. ASX-listed developer Lendlease also signed on as preferred construction partner earlier this week.
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