IQM lists on Nasdaq via SPAC

Finnish quantum computing firm IQM went public on Nasdaq via a SPAC merger at a valuation of about $1.9 billion, then saw its shares mostly trade below the offering price on its first day, according to TechCrunch. Buried in the company’s prospectus was a blunt warning: “large-scale commercial traction of quantum computing technology may never occur.” For a sector selling long-dated breakthroughs to impatient capital, the sentence is unusually direct.

IQM describes itself as a full-stack quantum company, selling physical quantum computers as well as cloud access to computing time. TechCrunch reports that its customers include VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Germany’s Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, with the company’s customer base growing from eight in 2024 to 22 in 2025; two recent customers are from the private sector. CEO and co-founder Jan Goetz said demand should scale when “quantum advantage” arrives — the point where quantum chips outperform classical computers across a wider range of tasks — but he also acknowledged that no company can predict when that will happen.

The listing lands as governments try to pull the timeline forward with public money and deadlines. TechCrunch notes that President Trump has issued executive orders intended to accelerate quantum development, while the US Department of Energy has committed to deploying what it calls the world’s first fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028. France, Germany and the UK have made similar announcements. IQM has positioned itself to benefit from this spending: it has a quantum technology center in Maryland and has deployed a quantum computer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, part of the DOE system, with Goetz saying the company can benefit directly from US government support.

In Europe, IQM has also leaned on public backing. The company has received more than €200 million in public support from European sovereign states and companies, TechCrunch reports, and expects continued support from Tesi, Finland’s state-owned investment firm. It was founded in 2018 as a spinout from Aalto University in Espoo, with two-thirds of staff based there and around 100 employees in Munich; in total it has about 420 employees.

The financing structure underscores how the sector is being carried. IQM’s SPAC transaction generated roughly €198 million in new liquidity after costs, and it had raised $300 million months earlier, according to TechCrunch. The company is due to debut on Nasdaq Helsinki after its US listing — a dual-market presence that broadens access to capital, while the core technical milestone the business depends on remains undefined.

IQM can now be traded like a mature technology company. Its own filings say the technology it sells may never achieve large-scale commercial traction.