American quantum computing company
Rigetti Computing, Inc. is a Berkeley, California-based developer of quantum integrated circuits used for quantum computers. The company also develops a cloud platform called Forest that enables programmers to write quantum algorithms.[2]
History
Traces of Rigetti Computing can be dated back to 1980, however the company was officially founded in 2013.
Rigetti Computing was founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti, a physicist who previously worked on quantum computers at IBM, and studied under Michel Devoret.[2][3] The company emerged from startup incubator Y Combinator in 2014 as a so-called "spaceshot" company.[4][5] The company also went through enterprise revenue-focused The Alchemist Accelerator in 2014.[5]
By February 2016, the company had begun testing a three-qubit (quantum bit) chip made using aluminum circuits on a silicon wafer.[6] In March, the company raised Series A funding of US$24 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. In November, the company raised Series B funding of $40 million in a round led by investment firm Vy Capital, along with additional funding from Andreessen Horowitz and other investors. Y Combinator was a smaller investor in both rounds.[5]
By Spring of 2017, the company was testing eight-qubit computers,[3] and in June, the company announced the public beta availability of a quantum cloud computing platform called Forest 1.0, which allows developers to write quantum algorithms.[2]
In October 2021, it was announced that the company planned to go public via a SPAC merger, with estimated valuation around $1.5 billion.[7][8] This process was expected to raise an addition $458 million in funding, in addition to the $200 million raised previously.[7] With this funding, Rigetti planned to scale its systems from 80 qubits to 1,000 qubits by 2024, and to 4,000 by 2026.[9] The SPAC deal closed on 2 March 2022, and the company shares began trading on the NASDAQ exchange.[10]
In December 2022, Subodh Kulkarni became president and CEO of the company.[11]
In July 2023 Rigetti launched a single chip 84 qubit quantum processor that can scale to larger systems.[12]
Products and technology
Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company, a term that indicates that the company designs and fabricates quantum chips, integrates them with a controlling architecture, and develops software for programmers to use to build algorithms for the chips.[13]
Forest cloud computing platform
The company hosts a cloud computing platform called Forest, which gives developers access to quantum processors so they can write quantum algorithms for testing purposes. The computing platform is based on a custom instruction language the company developed called Quil, which stands for Quantum Instruction Language. Quil facilitates hybrid quantum/classical computing, and programs can be built and executed using open source Python tools.[13][14] As of June 2017, the platform allows coders to write quantum algorithms for a simulation of a quantum chip with 36 qubits.[2]
Fab-1
The company operates a rapid prototyping fabrication ("fab") lab called Fab-1, designed to quickly create integrated circuits. Lab engineers design and generate experimental designs for 3D-integrated quantum circuits for qubit-based quantum hardware.[13]
Recognition
The company was recognized in 2016 by X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis as being one of the three leaders in the quantum computing space, along with IBM and Google.[15] MIT Technology Review named the company one of the 50 smartest companies of 2017.[16]
Rigetti Computing is headquartered in Berkeley, California, where it hosts developmental systems and cooling equipment.[15] The company also operates its Fab-1 manufacturing facility in nearby Fremont.[2]
