Q-Factor Exits Stealth With $24M to Build Million-Qubit Quantum Computer

TEL AVIV, Israel – April 08, 2026 – A new and formidable contender has officially entered the global quantum computing race. Q-Factor, an Israeli company founded by a team of world-renowned physicists, emerged from stealth today announcing a $24 million seed funding round. The ambitious goal: to build a quantum computer with over one million qubits, a scale that would represent an exponential leap beyond any system operating today.

The financing was led by prominent venture firms NFX and TPY Capital, with significant participation from Intel Capital, Korea Investment Partners, Deep33, and the Matias family. The company also secured a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority, signaling strong national support for its mission. Q-Factor is leveraging a technology based on neutral atoms, which it believes holds the key to breaking the scaling barriers that have so far limited the commercial potential of quantum computing.

A Revolutionary Leap for a Crowded Field

The promise of quantum computing—to solve problems intractable for even the most powerful supercomputers—has captivated scientists and investors for decades. However, the reality has been one of slow, incremental progress. Current quantum processors, regardless of their underlying technology, are limited to a few hundred or, at best, a few thousand qubits—the fundamental units of quantum information. This is orders of magnitude smaller than the hundreds of thousands or millions of qubits required for fault-tolerant computation that can deliver real-world commercial value.

Q-Factor is betting on neutral atoms, an approach that has rapidly gained traction as a leading candidate for scalability. Unlike the superconducting qubits favored by some industry giants, which require extreme cryogenic cooling and complex wiring, neutral atoms are naturally stable and can be precisely controlled and entangled using lasers at room temperature. This has attracted a competitive field of players, including Infleqtion (formerly ColdQuanta), Pasqal, and Atom Computing, all working to scale up their own neutral atom systems.

Into this dynamic landscape, Q-Factor arrives with a bold claim. "The quantum computing industry needs a revolution, not an evolution," said Prof. Ofer Firstenberg, the company’s co-founder and chief scientist. "Current systems are too small to deliver on the promise of quantum computing, and incremental improvements alone aren't going to close that gap." Q-Factor asserts it has identified the core architectural bottlenecks that prevent current platforms from scaling and has designed a new approach from the ground up to overcome them.

The Power of Neutral Atoms and a Million-Qubit Goal

Neutral atoms are often described by physicists as "nature's perfect qubits." Because every atom of a specific element is identical, they avoid the manufacturing inconsistencies that can plague solid-state qubits. They can be arranged in flexible two or three-dimensional arrays using optical tweezers (highly focused laser beams), and their quantum states can be maintained for long periods, a property known as coherence.

Q-Factor's mission is to harness these advantages to achieve a previously unthinkable scale. "We've developed an architecture designed for continuous scalability, a Moore's Law-like trajectory that can take neutral atom systems from thousands of qubits to millions and beyond," Prof. Firstenberg stated. The company’s core innovation is not just in the qubits themselves, but in the overarching system design that will allow for this exponential growth.

Achieving a million-qubit system is the holy grail of the industry. Such a machine would not only be capable of breaking current cryptographic standards but could also revolutionize drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, and artificial intelligence. However, the path is fraught with immense technical challenges. Improving the fidelity of two-qubit gates, mitigating atom loss from the laser traps, and developing sophisticated error correction schemes are just a few of the hurdles that all companies in the space, including Q-Factor, must overcome.

From Israeli Academia to a Global Quantum Contender

Q-Factor’s deep scientific credibility is arguably its greatest asset. The company is a direct spin-off from decades of foundational research conducted at two of Israel's most prestigious academic institutions, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Both universities are now shareholders in the company, a testament to the direct commercialization pipeline from their labs.

The founding team is a powerhouse of atomic physics. It includes Prof. Nir Davidson, a world authority on ultracold atoms with 280 published papers and former dean of physics at Weizmann; Prof. Ofer Firstenberg, an expert in quantum optics and Rydberg atoms; and Prof. Yoav Sagi of the Technion, a leading authority in neutral-atom manipulation. Rounding out the team is Dr. Guy Raz, a physicist who brings two decades of experience in building and scaling deep-tech ventures.

"It's rare to find a team with this combination of scientific authority and commercial instinct," commented Gigi Levy-Weiss, Partner at NFX. He noted the founders' background as graduates of the elite Talpiot military-technological program, stating they are "uniquely positioned to execute on one of the most ambitious goals in quantum computing."

Investor Confidence Signals a Strategic Bet

The composition of the $24 million seed round speaks volumes about the confidence in Q-Factor's vision. The involvement of Intel Capital, the venture arm of the semiconductor giant, provides a powerful stamp of industrial validation.

"Q-Factor's founding team combines world-class scientific depth with a clear-eyed understanding of what it will take to build a commercially viable quantum computer," said Lisa Cohen, Investment Director at Intel Capital. "They've watched the field evolve, learned from the challenges others have encountered, and assembled the right expertise to tackle the hardest remaining problem in quantum computing: scale."

For TPY Capital, the investment was the culmination of years of monitoring the sector. "TPY has been investing in quantum computing for seven years and have evaluated dozens of companies," explained Dekel Persi, a Partner at the firm. "Neutral atoms are emerging as the leading modality for scalable quantum computing, and Q-Factor is entering the race with a distinct architectural advantage... Their architectural approach to scale made this a clear must-do for us."

With substantial funding, a world-class scientific team, and a clear-eyed focus on the ultimate prize of scalability, Q-Factor has now formally joined the high-stakes pursuit of a quantum future. While the company is keeping its specific architectural designs close to its chest, its emergence from stealth has sent a clear signal that the race to build a truly revolutionary quantum computer has just become even more intense.