<ul><li>California-based full-stack quantum computing company Rigetti Computing has completed its previously announced special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal and started trading its common shares and warrants on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbols “RGTI” and “RGTIW” respectively, effective from March 2, 2022.</ul>

• The combined entity raised gross proceeds of USD 261.8 million—including private investments in public equity (PIPE) of USD 147 million—which will be used to stimulate its product development efforts, including its multi-generational quantum processors—1,000-qubit machines by 2024 and 4,000-qubit ones by 2026. The funds will also be used for operational growth and general corporate purposes.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Rigetti becomes the second pure-play quantum computing company to go public via a SPAC deal within the last year, after IonQ in October 2021 which raised more than USD 650 million. D-Wave , a Canadian quantum annealing developer, also announced going public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via the SPAC route, which is expected to close in Q2 2022. With the number of public companies in the quantum industry gradually rising, more quantum startups can be expected to join the club in the near future, including Quantinuum (Honeywell-Cambridge Quantum Computing merger).</ul>