Quick facts
- Global Employees: 140
- Investors: Airbus Ventures, AlphaEdison, Alumni Ventures, DCVC, GP. Bullhound, Horizons Ventures, ICM Limited, InQTel, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Mindrock, Morpheus Ventures, NTT Finance, Ridgeline Partners, Ruck & Maul Pty Ltd ATF the John Eales Family Trust, Salesforce Ventures, Salus Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SquarePeg Capital, TIS INTEC Group, William I. Lightfoot Trust
- Capital Raised: USD $133M, Series B
- Global Offices: Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, Oxford
About Q-CTRL
Q-CTRL is a global pioneer with unmatched commercial traction in the emerging quantum technology industry - a sector poised to transform everything from finance and pharma through to logistics and defense.
Q-CTRL is a category defining business leading the development of AI-powered quantum infrastructure software, delivering globally unique technology to accelerate the pathway to the world's first useful quantum computers. This same foundational technology also underpins Q-CTRL’s development of novel “software-defined” quantum sensors for defense and intelligence.
Q-CTRL has assembled the world’s foremost team of expert quantum-control engineers, providing solutions to global quantum technology leaders including Universities, National Labs, and quantum technology industry partners. In May 2023, IBM Quantum announced that Q-CTRL's quantum infrastructure software would be natively embedded in its quantum computing fleet, and the team recently announced a partnership with Transport for NSW - delivering its enterprise infrastructure software to transport data scientists exploring quantum computing. In parallel, in July 2023 the Australian Department of Defence announced Q-CTRL's leading role delivering quantum-assured navigation to AUKUS allies.
Q-CTRL is a World Economic Forum Global Innovator, and is a member of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, and a co-chair of the Australian Quantum Alliance within the Tech Council of Australia. Q-CTRL was selected as a Gartner Cool Vendor for 2023, one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Tech Companies by the Financial Review, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, Forbes, Wired, Gizmodo, and more.
Awards
- EdTech Breakthrough Award - Digital Courseware Solution of the Year 2024 & 2025
- Paul Shetler Disrupter of the Year Award Finalist 2024
- Gartner - Cool Vendor in Quantum Computing 2023
- Startup Daily - Most Innovative Startup 2023
- SIIA CODiE Award - Best Workforce Learning Solution Finalist 2023
- Quantum Effects Award - Quantum Software 2023
- The Australian - Top 100 Innovators 2022
- Financial Review - Most Innovative Companies 2021
- InnovationAus - Australian Hero 2021
About the founder
Professor Michael J. Biercuk is a global science and technology innovator building the greenfield quantum technology industry. Michael has a proven track record of success developing and managing strategic high-growth quantum technology initiatives within industry, government, and academia, as well as crafting policy at national and international levels to support the sector. He is uniquely experienced at the intersection of advanced technology development and national security based on his time in the US DoD and IC.
- Global expert in quantum control engineering and quantum computing
- >75 technical manuscripts in quantum technology, >8,800 citations
- Professor of quantum physics, University of Sydney
- PhD Harvard University, quantum physics
- BA University of Pennsylvania, physics
- Program management DARPA, US Department of Defense
- Technical consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton (Gov’t practice)
- TEDxSydney and SXSW speaking alumnus
- Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Investigator, The Australian Top 100 Innovators, SMH Most Influential People, and the AmCham Alliance Awards.
Short professional bio
Michael J. Biercuk is the CEO and Founder of Q-CTRL and a Professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology at the University of Sydney where he also serves as Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems. Through these roles he has become a globally recognized pioneer in the discipline of quantum control engineering, seeking to make quantum systems perform useful work. Michael earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Masters and PhD from Harvard University. He held a research fellowship in the Ion Storage Group at NIST Boulder, and has served as a full-time technical consultant to DARPA, helping to steer government investments in quantum information and advanced computer architectures. Michael is a SXSW and TEDx speaking alumnus and has won multiple awards for research, innovation, and commercial technology development.
Expanded bio
Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and founder of Q-CTRL, is one of the world’s leading experts in quantum technology, an exciting new field that seeks to leverage the exotic properties of quantum physics for real-world benefit.
An award-winning experimental quantum physicist, Michael serves as professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology at the University of Sydney. In 2017, he founded Q-CTRL based on research he led at the university’s Quantum Control Lab.
Q-CTRL is dedicated to helping researchers realize the true potential of quantum hardware, from quantum sensing to quantum computing. In quantum computing, the Q-CTRL team is known for its efforts in reducing hardware errors caused by environmental ‘noise.’ Computational errors are considered a major obstacle in the development of useful quantum computers and sought-after breakthroughs in science and industry.
Q-CTRL is funded by some of the world’s leading venture capital firms, including Silicon Valley-based Sierra Ventures and Sequoia Capital, SquarePeg Capital, Data Collective, Horizons Ventures, and Main Sequence Ventures. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and has opened global offices in Los Angeles, California, U.S., Berlin, Germany, and Oxford, U.K.
Michael completed his master’s degree and Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University and his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, he held a research fellowship in the Ion Storage Group at NIST Boulder under the supervision of Dr. David Wineland, a Nobel Laureate in Physics. Michael later served as a technical consultant to DARPA, the premier research funding agency in the U.S., helping steer government investments in quantum information and next-generation computer architectures.
Michael speaks with clarity and authority about science and technology and is adept at making physics accessible to a lay audience. He is a regular contributor to both the technical literature and popular media and is a TEDxSydney and SXSW speaking alumnus.
Major accolades include the 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher, selection as one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s 100 Most Influential People (2012) and recognition as the winner of the 2011 NMI Prize for Excellence in Measurement Science.
Michael is also an avid collector of mechanical watches, and has spoken at events including Dubai Watch Week and TEDxSydney on the links between high horology and the most advanced research in quantum technology.