Janes has today announced an agreement to acquire the defence market analytics business – also known as Global Platforms and Systems (“GPS”) – from Avascent to support its industry intelligence solutions and enhance the offering it provides to customers.

This acquisition comes as we continue to build on the momentum we have created since becoming an independent business and ensures that we will continue to deliver the objective open-source intelligence and analytics that our customers rely upon.

Blake Bartlett, CEO of Janes

“I’m delighted to announce the acquisition of GPS from Avascent – it’s a great addition to our portfolio of trusted open-source defence intelligence solutions and allows us to enhance our position as the leading provider of defence market forecasts worldwide,” said Blake Bartlett, CEO at Janes. “This acquisition comes as we continue to build on the momentum we have created since becoming an independent business and ensures that we will continue to deliver the objective open-source intelligence and analytics that the world of defence and security relies upon.”

“This deal brings a highly complementary capability into the Janes ecosystem of connected data that our customers trust in their most critical decisions,” said Doug Dixon, President of Aerospace and Defence Industry at Janes. “We’re focused on getting our customers the right data in the right structure to underpin the analytics they need to operate in the modern national security environment.”

“In Janes, we have found a partner that can take the GPS business to the next level while we continue to focus and invest in our core strategy consulting business,” said Steve Irwin, President of Avascent. “Clients who have come to rely on GPS and its custom features will experience no change in the quality of the product or the responsiveness of the client service. Indeed, clients who have wanted closer integration between GPS and other data resources can now look forward to the prospect of more powerful tools to support their strategy, corporate development, and business development efforts.”

The deal between Janes and Avascent also includes a collaboration agreement through which the two firms can pursue opportunities where their joint capabilities will provide clients with unparalleled insights and advice on critical defence and security issues.

Janes expects completion of the acquisition in January 2021 subject to customary conditions.

Janes has today announced an agreement to acquire the defence market analytics business – also known as Global Platforms and Systems (“GPS”) – from Avascent to support its industry intelligence solutions and enhance the offering it provides to customers.

This acquisition comes as we continue to build on the momentum we have created since becoming an independent business and ensures that we will continue to deliver the objective open-source intelligence and analytics that our customers rely upon.

Blake Bartlett, CEO of Janes

“I’m delighted to announce the acquisition of GPS from Avascent – it’s a great addition to our portfolio of trusted open-source defence intelligence solutions and allows us to enhance our position as the leading provider of defence market forecasts worldwide,” said Blake Bartlett, CEO at Janes. “This acquisition comes as we continue to build on the momentum we have created since becoming an independent business and ensures that we will continue to deliver the objective open-source intelligence and analytics that the world of defence and security relies upon.”

“This deal brings a highly complementary capability into the Janes ecosystem of connected data that our customers trust in their most critical decisions,” said Doug Dixon, President of Aerospace and Defence Industry at Janes. “We’re focused on getting our customers the right data in the right structure to underpin the analytics they need to operate in the modern national security environment.”

“In Janes, we have found a partner that can take the GPS business to the next level while we continue to focus and invest in our core strategy consulting business,” said Steve Irwin, President of Avascent. “Clients who have come to rely on GPS and its custom features will experience no change in the quality of the product or the responsiveness of the client service. Indeed, clients who have wanted closer integration between GPS and other data resources can now look forward to the prospect of more powerful tools to support their strategy, corporate development, and business development efforts.”

The deal between Janes and Avascent also includes a collaboration agreement through which the two firms can pursue opportunities where their joint capabilities will provide clients with unparalleled insights and advice on critical defence and security issues.

Janes expects completion of the acquisition in January 2021 subject to customary conditions.

BGF has completed a multi-million pound investment for a minority shareholding in a Teesside-headquartered Engineering Information Management (EIM) software company, Datum360, to accelerate growth and address significant market demand.

Datum360’s software platform connects disparate systems, providing a trusted data backbone which manages the life cycle of critical engineering and asset management data for a range of blue-chip customers from the fields of energy, mining, utilities, road and rail infrastructure.

The fast growth technology company was founded by CEO Steve Wilson, alongside CTO Dave Mitchell and CFO James Michael. The management team have a combined 50 years’ experience working within large engineering and design firms where they cultivated a deep understanding of data management in major capital projects.

The pioneering North East company has offices in Australia and plans to open a US base in 2021. It has a global reach and is undertaking projects in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Datum360 counts organisations such as BP, Total and BHP among its customers. BGF’s investment will help to unlock its expansion and allow the business to build on the fast growth it has experienced to date.

Commenting on the investment, CEO Steve Wilson said “Datum360 has built a reputation for delivering, at speed and globally, our cloud based Connected Data platform for Engineering Information. Working with energy, mining, utilities and infrastructure clients, we are excited to see the demand for data become more distinct and more urgent. Our capability delivers the critical data foundation and backbone which underpins our clients evolving approach to BIM and building and maintaining their Digital Twins.”

“BGF’s investment team and their expertise in supporting the scale-up of technology businesses like ours is invaluable to the next stage of our growth. Having first met BGF in September this year, we have been impressed with the pace to get the deal to completion. The BGF team were quick to understand our business and market opportunity and we look forward to working together to achieve our shared ambitions.”

BGF opened a Newcastle office in 2018 and has invested in a number of innovative fast-growing North East companies, such as Sunderland-based SaleCycle – a behavioural marketing technology company – and Alnwick-headquartered Arcinova, a life sciences business.

Chris Boyes from BGF led the deal. Chris said: “Datum360 is a fine example of a North East business with a market-leading product which has significant global potential. With the growth plan and opportunity for the business clear, we were able to deploy capital very quickly. We already have a number of successful investments in the North East and are looking to back more businesses in the region.”

“We recognise that business owners are trading in a very tough economy and we believe that equity investment can be a solution for supporting progressive entrepreneurs’ growth ambitions, as well as playing a vital role in driving economic recovery.”

 

ESPOO, Finland, 10^th November 2020

IQM Quantum Computers (IQM), the European leader in building superconducting quantum computers, today announced that it has raised €39 M in Series A funding, bringing the total amount of funding raised to date to €71 M.

This ranks among the highest fundraising rounds by a European deep-tech startup within a year. MIG Fonds has led this round, with participation from all existing investors including Tesi, OpenOcean, Maki.vc, Vito Ventures, Matadero QED. New investors Vsquared, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, and Tencent, have also joined this round.

“IQM has a strong track record of research and in achieving high growth. They continue to attract the best global talent across functions and have exceeded their hardware and software milestones. We are thrilled to lead this round and continue to support IQM as the company accelerates its next phase of business and hardware growth,” said Axel Thierauf, Partner at MIG Fonds, and Chairman of the Board of IQM.

Since 2019, IQM has been among the fastest-growing companies in the quantum computing sector and already has one of the world’s largest quantum hardware engineering teams. This funding will be used to accelerate IQM´s hardware development and to co-design application-specific quantum computers. A significant part of the funding will also be used to attract and retain the best global talent in quantum computing, and to establish sales and business development teams.

”Today’s announcement is part of our ongoing Series-A funding round. I am extremely pleased with the confidence our investors have shown in our vision, team, product, and the ability to execute and commercialize quantum computers. This investment also shows their continued belief in building the future of quantum technologies. This is a significant recognition for our fantastic team that has achieved all our key milestones from the previous round. We’re just getting started,” said Jan Goetz, CEO of IQM.

“It is impressive to be a part of the IQM journey and see the progress of their technology. We’re proud to see another startup from Finland making a global impact. IQM will have a lasting impact on the future of computing, and consequently will help solve some of the global challenges related to healthcare, climate change and development of sustainable materials among many others,” said Juha Lehtola, Head of Direct VC Investments at Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment).

IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers. For industrial customers, IQM follows an innovative co-design strategy to deliver quantum advantage based on application-specific processors, using novel chip architectures and ultrafast quantum operations. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies.

“We want to invest in deep technology startups that shape the future and advance society. IQM is the perfect example of a company that is on top of its game; their work on quantum computing will make an impact for generations to come,” said Herbert Mangesius, Founding Partner at Vsquared and Vito Ventures.

While quantum computing is still under development, governments and private organizations across the world are investing today to retain their competitive edge and become quantum-ready for the future.

The next decade will be the decade of quantum technology, and we will see major breakthroughs with real-world applications using quantum computers in healthcare, logistics, finance, chemistry and beyond.

About IQM Quantum Computers:

IQM is the European leader in superconducting quantum computers, headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Since its inception in 2018, IQM has grown to 70+ (TBC) employees and has also established a subsidiary in Munich, Germany, to lead the co-design approach. IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers and provides complete access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through a unique application-specific co-design approach. IQM has also received a €3.3 M grant from Business Finland and has been awarded a €15 M equity investment from the EIC Accelerator program.

For more information, visit www.meetiqm.com.

Registered office:

IQM Finland Oy
Keilaranta 19
02150 Espoo
FINLAND
www.meetiqm.com

Media Contact:

Raghunath Koduvayur

Head of Marketing and Communications

Raghunath@meetiqm.com

+358504876509

Additional investor quotes:

” We are proud once again to invest in IQM. Quantum computing processors are on the edge of our core scope of investing in scalable B2B software businesses, but this opportunity was too big to miss. We need a strong quantum eco-system to address the next generation of data-intensive computations, which cannot be created without the fastest and most robust quantum machines for real world applications provided by IQM. This is where IQM can be the step change that will foster the future of the industry,” said Ekaterina Almasque, Venture Partner at OpenOcean.

“IQM is a game-changer — a company that can play a leadership role in quantum computing, and one that will have a huge positive impact across the world. Quantum computers will also help us with our sustainability goals. We are thrilled to continue to support their ambitious vision,” said Ilkka Kivimäki, Partner at Maki.vc.

“IQM’s technical innovation, world-class scientific team and drive in building quantum computers have made them a European leader in the quantum computers field. We look forward to supporting them in commercializing quantum computing and achieving more milestones in future,” said Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative at Tencent.

“IQM’s seasoned technical and commercial team, long-term focus on quantum technology for global markets fits in well with our new fund’s focus areas. They have created leading technology from Europe and we are proud to join this round,” said Helmut Jeggle, Founding Partner and Managing Director at Salvia GmbH.

”We believe in partnering with exceptional founders building the next generation of deep-tech global businesses. IQM has done a fabulous job in attracting the best talent and are solving real problems with their innovative approach. Quantum computing is definitely the future,” said Johannes Froehling, Deeptech investment activities at Matadero QED.

About the investors:

MIG Fonds: https://www.mig.ag

OpenOcean: https://openocean.vc

Maki.vc: https://maki.vc

Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd): www.tesi.fi

Vito Ventures: http://vito.vc

VSquared Ventures: https://www.vsquared.vc

Tencent: https://www.tencent.com/

You can also download our press releases here:

IQM Series A press release – French

IQM Series A press release – Finnish

IQM Series A press release – German

IQM Series A press release – English

IQM Series A press release – Swedish