Salesforce Ventures Leads $290 Million Round in Quantum Startup Q-Ctrl

The raise, which values Q-Ctrl above $1 billion, signals that US corporate venture capital is now committing nine-figure sums to quantum software at a stage where commercial revenue remains limited.

Salesforce Ventures led a $290 million funding round in Q-Ctrl, an Australian quantum software company, valuing the firm at more than $1 billion, according to a Bloomberg report published November 12, 2026. The round also included participation from Affinity, the investment firm associated with Jared Kushner. The size and composition of the round place it among the largest single financing events in quantum software to date.

Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM), served as lead investor, making this a direct commitment by a publicly traded US technology company. Salesforce's involvement is notable because corporate venture arms typically invest to extend a parent company's product ecosystem, suggesting Salesforce sees quantum software as relevant to its enterprise platform roadmap.

Q-Ctrl develops what it calls quantum infrastructure software, tools designed to reduce errors in quantum computing systems and make quantum hardware more reliable for practical use. The company positions its technology as hardware-agnostic, meaning it can operate across different quantum computing platforms. That approach distinguishes Q-Ctrl from companies that build their own quantum processors, such as IBM or Google, both of which operate in the US market.

The $290 million figure represents the total round size as reported by Bloomberg. The report does not specify how much each individual investor contributed, so the exact allocation between Salesforce Ventures, Affinity, and any other participants is not publicly known. A breakdown would require either a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, if any portion of the raise triggers US disclosure requirements, or a voluntary disclosure from the company.

For US investors, the round carries relevance on two levels. First, Salesforce Ventures is deploying capital from a publicly traded US company, meaning the investment will appear in Salesforce's financial disclosures. Salesforce most recently reported its financials in its fiscal second quarter 2026 earnings, filed with the SEC. Any material change in the carrying value of this investment would surface in future filings under fair value accounting rules.

Second, the participation of Affinity, the Kushner-linked fund, draws attention given the intersection of private capital and political proximity. Affinity has previously made investments in technology and infrastructure sectors. The fund is private, so its portfolio disclosures are not subject to the same SEC reporting requirements as a registered investment adviser managing public funds. What specific stakes or governance rights either investor received in Q-Ctrl is not stated in the Bloomberg report.

The quantum computing sector has drawn increasing US investor attention alongside the broader artificial intelligence boom. The underlying logic, as described by researchers and investors in publicly available materials, is that quantum systems could eventually accelerate certain classes of computation relevant to AI model training, drug discovery, and financial modeling. However, commercially viable, large-scale quantum computing has not yet been demonstrated by any company, a point consistently noted in risk disclosures by US-listed quantum-related firms such as IonQ Inc. (NYSE: IONQ) and Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: RGTI).

IonQ, in its most recent annual report filed with the SEC, described the quantum computing market as early-stage and noted that it had not yet achieved profitability. Rigetti, in its own SEC filings, similarly disclosed substantial operating losses and uncertainty about the timeline to commercial scale. Q-Ctrl, as a private company, has not filed comparable public disclosures in the United States.

The $1 billion valuation threshold, commonly called unicorn status in venture capital, is a function of negotiated terms between the company and its investors at the time of the round. It does not reflect a market price established by public trading. The actual realized value for investors depends on a future liquidity event, such as an initial public offering or acquisition, neither of which has been announced.

What this round does establish, based on the reported terms, is that US corporate venture capital is now committing capital to quantum software at the nine-figure level. Whether Salesforce discloses the investment as a material item in its next earnings report, expected in its fiscal third quarter 2026 filing, will provide one concrete data point on how the company characterizes the size of the commitment relative to its overall balance sheet.