Multiverse Computing Series C values quantum AI startup at $2.3B
Multiverse Computing raised $570 million for AI model compression, with investors betting on edge AI and sovereign infrastructure demand.
By Ingrid Halvorsen · Venture Capital Reporter
· 3 min read
Multiverse Computing raised a $570 million Series C at a $2.3 billion post-money valuation, a deal that makes the Multiverse Computing Series C one of the larger recent financings in quantum-linked AI infrastructure. The San Sebastián company says the valuation is five times higher than its Series B, and the round brings total funding to $800 million.
Forgepoint Capital International, BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund and Bullhound Capital co-led the financing. Participants included Santander Alternative Investments, Tikehau Capital, HP Inc., Orange Ventures, Scania Invest, NAventures, Qatar Development Bank, Zouk Capital, SETT, the EIC Fund, the Basque Government’s Hazten Scale-Up Fund and Kutxa Fundazioa. JPMorgan and Santander advised on the transaction. Multiverse said the round remains open to selected strategic investors, without naming any additional backers.
The company did not disclose current revenue. It said annual revenue has risen more than tenfold since its Series B, and that sales in the first quarter of 2026 were 96 times higher than a year earlier. Those growth rates are the main commercial claim behind the new valuation, but the lack of a revenue baseline makes the scale hard to assess from the outside.
What does Multiverse Computing do?
Multiverse Computing builds software for reducing the size and compute requirements of AI models, using tensor network techniques derived from quantum physics. Its flagship product, CompactifAI, is a compression engine designed to make large language models cheaper and faster to run on devices and in data centres.
The company says CompactifAI can shrink large language models by 80% to 95% while keeping accuracy loss low. According to Multiverse, that lets open-source models including Llama and Mistral run four to twelve times faster and at 50% to 80% lower cost. In some deployments, the company says compressed models can operate on phones, drones or factory floors without relying on a cloud connection.
Multiverse also offers CompactifAI Router, which decides whether a task should run locally or in the cloud. The company says its broader data-centre software stack covers compression, GPU management, AI services and security controls.
The startup was founded in 2019 by CEO Enrique Lizaso Olmos, formerly deputy CEO of Unnim Bank, and CTO Román Orús, an Ikerbasque research professor at the Donostia International Physics Centre. The company previously raised $215 million in June 2025, when it was being compared with quantum software companies including SandboxAQ and Classiq.
Why investors are funding model compression now
Multiverse is pitching two related shifts: AI workloads moving onto edge devices, and governments and enterprises seeking more control over AI infrastructure. The company says its models now run across millions of devices, including drones, cameras, satellites, vehicles and telecom equipment, with AI PCs expected to follow.
Its customer list is concentrated in sectors where compute cost, security and data location matter. Multiverse names Allianz, Bank of Canada, Bosch, Iberdrola, Indra, PwC and Telefónica among customers across manufacturing, finance, energy, aerospace, cybersecurity, defence, health and life sciences. It also says governments and state-linked investors, including Qatar Development Bank and Spain’s SETT, are direct customers.
The new capital is earmarked for research and development, sovereign AI “gigafactory” infrastructure and expansion in East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the US. Multiverse is trying to position itself as an efficiency layer between enterprises, public-sector AI buyers and the companies supplying compute.
CEO Enrique Lizaso Olmos said the company has shown AI can run on smartphones, in sovereign data centres and on factory floors without cloud dependency. Forgepoint Capital International managing director and partner Damien Henault said Multiverse has expanded from LLM compression into what he called an AI foundry and operating system. BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund managing partner Yann Lagalaye said the compression approach can reduce GPU use, energy consumption and infrastructure needs while keeping comparable performance and accuracy.
This story draws on original reporting from TechFundingNews.
