Rigetti to Go Public with SPAC Supernova II with Equity Value of $1.5 Billion

Rigetti Computing announced today that they will merge with SPAC Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II to become a public company. The transaction will include a cash infusion to Rigetti of $345 million in funds held in the trust account of Supernova II along with an additional $100 million in PIPE (Private investment in public equity) funding from investors including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Bessemer Venture Partner, Franklin Templeton, and In-Q-Tel. Other strategic investors will include Keysight Technologies, Palantir Technologies and Ampere Computing. These funds should be sufficient to support Rigetti's operating expenses and capital investment needs until they reach breakeven. Michael Clifton, CFO of Supernova Partners will be joining the Rigetti Board of Directors after the acquisition closes and the company's shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "RGTI".

Rigetti Computing was formed in 2013 and had previously received about $200 million in venture funding to day. The company's headquarters is in Berkeley, California with a wafer fab located in Fremont, California and other offices in Canada, the UK and Australia. They have over 130 employees with more than 40 holding technical PhDs and the company holds or has applied for 116 patents. They are currently in the midst of deploying their 80 qubit computer which uses a multi-chip architecture (see here for our article about this) and recently announced that they have completed building a quantum computer in the UK as part of a project funded by Innovate UK. They will make this computer available to outside users as part of the Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services in early 2022. The company has aggressive plans to scale their processors by leveraging their multi-chip technology and plan on providing a 1000 qubit machine in 2024 and a 4000 qubit machine in 2026.

Rigetti has posted a detailed investor presentation on their website which provides a good overview of the transaction, their current status and plans. The company indicates it will achieve revenue in calendar 2021 of about $7 million and expects to grow that to $594 million by 2026. Their forecast also shows they will reach profitability and positive cash flow by 2025. Supernova II has posted detailed financial information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including forms 425 and 8K. Rigetti's press announcement about the merger can be seen on their website here.

October 6, 2021