EMERGING TECH<\/p>\n
Lockheed Martin Ventures -- the defense companys technology startup investment arm -- has backed two companies through separate avenues announced this week.<\/p>\n
In a release Tuesday, quantum computing company IonQ said it grew its total fundraising amount to $84 million through a new Series B round that represents its second significant round of investments since the 2015 founding with $2 million in seed money.<\/p>\n
The latest round included Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH and Cambium, another investment firm that focuses on companies pushing future computational paradigm changes.<\/p>\n
For Lockheed Martin Ventures, this investment gains the company an early look at a technology of increasing interest to government agencies. Two years ago, the parent corporation doubled the size of the venture fund to $200 million and sharpened the focus on five core technology areas.<\/p>\n
College Park, Maryland-based IonQ uses what it calls a trapped-ion method for its quantum computing platforms.<\/p>\n
IonQ raised another $20 million in 2016 from Amazon Web Services, Googles venture arm and New Enterprise Associates to build two new quantum computers. Then in 2019 came an additional $55 million in a fundraising round that saw Samsung and Mubadala Capital enter the fray along with additional backing from AWS, GV and NEA.<\/p>\n
Separately on Wednesday, training technology firm Red 6 announced it too has received an investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures.<\/p>\n
Terms of the funding were undisclosed but Santa Monica, California-based Red 6 will use those funds to support the further development and commercialization of its Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System offering used to help train airplane pilots.<\/p>\n
ATARS more specifically is designed to support synthetic training environments that seek to evaluate human performance in a multi-echelon, mixed-reality environment.<\/p>\n
Red 6 was founded in November 2017 and conducted a feasibility demonstration with the Air Force in February 2019, the same month that a $2.5 million seed funding round closed.<\/p>\n
The company connected with the Air Force through AFWERX, a program designed to connect startups with the service branch. Red 6 is the first AFWERX-backed company to be awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract.<\/p>\n
Some of Red 6s previous investors include Moonshots Capital, Starburst Accelerator and Irongate Capital Partners.<\/p>\n
About the Author<\/p>\n
Ross Wilkers is a senior staff writer for Washington Technology. He can be reached at rwilkers@washingtontechnology.com<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter: @rosswilkers. Also find and connect with him on LinkedIn. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n