Sherbrooke technology firm Qubic has closed an oversubscribed $2.5 million USD seed round to commercialize its low-noise cryogenic amplifiers. The investment targets thermal management bottlenecks in quantum computing and will fund the development of dual-use hardware for aerospace and defence sensing.
Two Small Fish Ventures led the $3.5 million CAD funding round. UC Investments, Quantacet, and UCeed also participated.
Quantum computers must operate at extremely cold temperatures. Currently, the standard semiconductor amplifiers used to boost signals inside these freezing environments generate too much heat. They often consume half the total cooling power of a quantum system. This thermal limit restricts cooling capacity and stops operators from scaling up the machines. Qubic aims to fix this bottleneck by cutting the heat output to less than 0.1 milliwatts per amplifier.
The company achieves this extreme drop in temperature through a completely new hardware design. Traditional quantum amplifiers rely on delicate and notoriously hard-to-scale components called Josephson junctions. Qubic instead builds what it calls Kinetic Inductance Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers. Rather than using complex junctions, these new devices draw their signal-boosting power directly from the physical properties of the transmission line material itself. The result is a simpler, more durable device that can read data from multiple qubits at once without generating system-breaking heat or noise.
“Qubic’s technology is addressing one of the most critical bottlenecks in quantum and advanced sensing infrastructure, which is preserving signal fidelity in extremely low-noise environments,” said Allen Lau, co-founder and operating partner at Two Small Fish Ventures.
The company will use the capital to finalize its minimum viable product and increase manufacturing capacity for quantum and defence clients. Qubic will also build a radio frequency quantum sensing platform around its amplifier. This RF platform targets military applications, including threat detection and covert operations.
“Our technology will be a key component in enabling quantum computers to scale and attain the full potential of those systems,” said Jérôme Bourassa, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qubic. “Beyond that, other applications in defence and communications are also within reach.”
The company maintains operations in Quebec and research facilities in Waterloo, Ontario. Qubic recently sold its first amplifiers to Quantum Machines for integration into hybrid control systems. The firm has secured nearly $10 million CAD in combined equity and grant funding to date.