D-Wave completed its planned SPAC merger last week, the third quantum computing startup after Rigetti and IonQ to go public via a SPAC deal within the past year
Context & Ripple Effects
The quantum-computing exit window opened with IonQ's ~$2B SPAC merger in early 2021, which made it the first publicly traded pure-play quantum company, and Rigetti followed via its own SPAC within the year. D-Wave's completion closes the loop on a plan announced in February, when the Vancouver-based startup said it would list on the NYSE expecting to raise $340M at a $1.2B valuation (the February listing plan).
That $1.2B target sits well below IonQ's $2B benchmark, so the deal doubles as a market read on how investors price different quantum approaches — and on whether the SPAC route that carried all three companies still works for deep-tech hardware.
First-order effects
- D-Wave now trades publicly with quarterly reporting obligations and a disclosed valuation, replacing the private fundraising track it was on when it last raised ($138.7M total as of 2015).
Second-order effects
- IonQ and Rigetti gain direct public comparables: D-Wave's post-listing performance will be read against their own, shaping how each can fund hardware roadmaps from the market.
Third-order effects
- If three SPAC listings become the template, quantum computing shifts from venture-stage patience to public-market cadence, where revenue timelines and valuation gaps between approaches get repriced every quarter.
The trend: Deep-tech hardware firms are using the SPAC window to reach public markets years before conventional IPO economics would allow, with quantum computing as the clearest cluster.