How quantum companies fund their losses: reading cash burn, share sales, warrants and runway in the filings

Background

Net loss is not cash burn

Every public quantum company in this piece reports losses while it builds hardware: IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing Inc. (QCi). The income statement's net loss does not tell you how fast money is leaving the bank. A better first measure is the cash-flow statement line "net cash used in operating activities," which this piece calls operating cash burn. That line starts from net loss and then adds back costs that use no cash. Examples are stock-based compensation (pay given in shares) and changes in the estimated value of warrants that are booked as liabilities.

The gap between the two measures can be large in either direction. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, IonQ reported a net loss of $1,064.0 million, but its operations used $254.8 million of cash. Its cash-flow statement shows a $591.5 million loss on the change in fair value of warrant liabilities. That is an accounting remeasurement, not a payment. Rigetti shows the opposite case for the first half of 2025: net income of $3.0 million while operations used $29.8 million of cash, helped by a $32.7 million gain on derivative warrant liabilities.

D-Wave shows both directions in consecutive years. Its first-half 2025 net loss was $172.8 million and its operating cash burn was $34.6 million. In the first half of 2026 the net loss was $66.4 million and operating cash burn was $73.5 million. A reader who watched only net loss would think spending had fallen, when the cash measure had roughly doubled.

Sources: [2] [4] [6]

Reported evidence

What four companies spent in the first half of 2026

Net cash used in operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared with the same period of 2025, was as follows. IonQ: $254.8 million, up from $85.6 million. D-Wave: $73.5 million, up from $34.6 million. Rigetti: $32.0 million, up from $29.8 million. QCi: $23.3 million, up from $10.5 million. By this publication's arithmetic, the year-on-year increases are about 198% for IonQ, 113% for D-Wave, 7% for Rigetti and 121% for QCi. These companies differ greatly in size and business mix, so the list is not a ranking.

D-Wave also reports adjusted EBITDA. This is a company-defined measure of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, with further items removed. D-Wave says its adjusted EBITDA loss for the first half of 2026 was $69.9 million, up from $26.1 million. It attributes the increase mainly to "increased investments to support the Company's accelerated product development and go-to-market initiatives." That is the company's explanation, and the measure is not the same as cash burn.

On the other side of the ledger, the balances at June 30, 2026 were large compared with these burn rates. IonQ says cash, cash equivalents and investments were $3.0 billion. D-Wave says its cash and marketable investment securities totaled $546.2 million. Rigetti reports $541.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments. QCi reports $189.2 million of cash and cash equivalents plus $1.1 billion of short- and long-term investments.

Sources: [2] [6] [7] [4] [5] [9]

Reported evidence

Where the money came from: at-the-market programs and registered offerings

Most of those balances came from selling stock in 2025. The most common tool was the at-the-market (ATM) program. The company registers shares in advance under a shelf registration, which is a filing that lets it sell securities later without a new registration each time. It then has sales agents sell shares into the public market over time, at whatever price buyers pay. D-Wave's January 10, 2025 prospectus supplement is a typical example. It covered sales of up to $150,000,000 of common stock through six sales agents, by any method deemed an "at the market offering" under Securities Act Rule 415(a)(4), with agent compensation of up to 3% of gross proceeds.

The cash-flow statements show how much these programs raised. D-Wave's 10-Q reports $536.7 million from "issuance of common stock in at-the-market offerings, net of issuance costs" in the first half of 2025. Rigetti's reports $346.7 million of ATM proceeds in the same period and none in the first half of 2026. Financing in the first half of 2026 was small at these companies. IonQ's financing activities provided $18.9 million and Rigetti's $0.5 million. QCi's $4.3 million came from stock option exercises.

The other route is an underwritten registered offering. A bank buys a block of securities at an agreed price and resells it, and the terms are filed in a prospectus supplement (Form 424B5). IonQ's October 14, 2026 supplement, covered in an earlier brief on this site, sold 20,500,000 shares and 29,500,000 pre-funded warrants. Each share or pre-funded warrant came with two Series C warrants, sold together for $40.00. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC was the sole underwriter. IonQ estimated net proceeds of about $1,988.5 million, not counting any warrant exercises, and expected delivery on or about October 16, 2026.

Sources: [8] [6] [4] [2] [9] [1]

Reported evidence

Warrants: cash later, shares later

A warrant is a right, issued by the company, to buy a set number of new shares at a fixed exercise price before an expiry date. When a holder exercises, the company receives the exercise price and issues new shares. A warrant is therefore a possible future share sale whose timing the holder controls, not the company.

IonQ's October deal used two kinds. The pre-funded warrants have an exercise price of $0.0001 per share, so nearly the whole price was paid upfront. A holder cannot exercise if that would take its ownership above 4.99% of the common stock. Each Series C warrant can be exercised for one share at $69.46 and lasts seven years. By this publication's arithmetic, $69.46 is about 74% above the $40.00 offering price. If all 100,000,000 Series C warrants were exercised, IonQ would receive about $6.95 billion and issue 100 million shares. Holders have no obligation to exercise.

IonQ already had warrants outstanding before October. The prospectus lists, as of June 30, 2026, shares issuable on exercise of 36,042,530 Series A warrants, 43,010,800 Series B warrants, 1,065,043 public warrants and 543,152 warrants held by a customer. D-Wave's 10-Q shows the end of a warrant cycle. During 2025, 17,645,147 warrants were exercised, bringing in $202.9 million. On November 19, 2025 the company redeemed the 270,820 remaining public warrants at $0.01 each, and none were outstanding at June 30, 2026.

Rigetti still has warrants with an $11.50 exercise price. It carries them as derivative warrant liabilities: $78.4 million, classified as current, at June 30, 2026, compared with $102.6 million classified as non-current at December 31, 2025. Changes in that value pass through net income without moving cash. In the first half of 2026 the change was a $24.1 million gain, which is part of why Rigetti's $19.5 million net loss was smaller than its $32.0 million operating cash burn.

Sources: [1] [6] [4]

Reported evidence

Counting shares, and the two meanings of dilution

Ownership dilution is the simplest kind. When a company issues new shares, each existing share is a smaller fraction of the whole. The share count is on the 10-Q cover and on the balance sheet. From December 31, 2025 to June 30, 2026, D-Wave's count rose from 358,741,605 to 372,011,420. By this publication's arithmetic that is about 3.7%, and 10,430,444 of the new shares were issued as payment for the Quantum Circuits acquisition. Over the same period Rigetti went from 331,282,895 to 333,676,881 (about 0.7%) and QCi from about 224.2 million to 226.3 million (about 1.0%).

IonQ's count changed faster. The 10-Q cover shows 381,002,314 shares on July 29, 2026, and the October prospectus shows 408,907,678 on October 13, 2026, an increase of about 7.3% by our arithmetic. IonQ's 10-Q says the SkyWater acquisition, completed on July 31, 2026, included 24,135,775 shares of common stock. By our arithmetic that is about 86% of the 27,905,364-share increase. The prospectus puts the count after the offering at 429,407,678, or 558,907,678 if the warrants are exercised in full. Those are increases of about 5.0% and 36.7% over the October 13 figure. A holder of 1% of the company on October 13 would own about 0.73% if every new warrant were exercised.

The prospectus also lists securities that are not counted in the 408,907,678 figure. These are options, restricted stock units, performance units and the earlier warrants, totaling 103,498,447 shares by our sum, plus 43,072,415 shares reserved for future equity awards. This is a rough measure that mixes June 30 and October 13 dates. Adding the 103.5 million to the fully exercised post-offering count gives about 662.4 million shares, around 62% more than on October 13.

Prospectuses also report a second, accounting kind of dilution, based on net tangible book value. That is assets minus liabilities and intangible assets, divided by shares outstanding. IonQ says net tangible book value was $0.98 per share before the offering and would be $5.48 afterwards, an increase of $4.50 for existing holders. New buyers paid $40.00, so the prospectus reports "immediate dilution of $34.52 per share" for them. Existing holders' ownership was diluted while their book value per share rose. The two measures answer different questions.

Sources: [6] [4] [9] [3] [1]

Background

How to read a 10-Q liquidity section

Start with the balance sheet and add up cash, cash equivalents and investments, including long-term investments. Cash alone can mislead. Rigetti held $27.8 million in cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2026, but $541.3 million once its treasury investments are included.

Next, look at the cash-flow statement. Take net cash used in operating activities, then find capital spending under investing activities, usually labeled "purchases of property and equipment." In the first half of 2026 that was $18.6 million at IonQ and $16.4 million at Rigetti. Do not count purchases and sales of securities as spending, because they only move money between cash and investments. QCi's $529.7 million investing outflow in the half included $356.5 million of net securities purchases, which only moved money into investments, plus $168.7 million paid for acquisitions and $4.5 million of capital spending.

Then read management's sufficiency sentence carefully. Rigetti says that, based on its forecasts, its cash and investments "will be sufficient to meet its anticipated operating cash needs for at least the next twelve months," and attaches conditions about its business plan and macroeconomic conditions. QCi says it "has adequate liquid assets on hand to meet its obligations over the next 12 months." These sentences cover twelve months and nothing beyond. In the parts of D-Wave's 10-Q that could be opened for this piece, no equivalent sentence was found. Readers should check the full filing.

Finally, look for debt and for ways to raise more money. D-Wave carries a revenue-linked loan, the SIF Loan, whose repayments "are due in up to 15 annual installments" depending on revenue milestones. Rigetti says it ended the quarter with "no debt." Shelf registrations are filed on Form S-3, and the terms of ATM programs and other offerings appear in 424B5 prospectus supplements, so check EDGAR's filing list as well as the 10-Q.

Sources: [4] [2] [9] [6] [5]

Our interpretation

A rough runway calculation, and what it leaves out

Runway means how long current cash and investments would last at the current burn rate. The simplest estimate divides liquid resources by annualized burn. Here, burn is first-half operating cash use times two. These are this publication's illustrative calculations, not forecasts. Rigetti: $541.3 million ÷ $64.0 million is about 8.5 years. Including capital spending ($96.8 million a year), it is about 5.6 years. D-Wave: $546.2 million ÷ $146.9 million is about 3.7 years, before capital spending and debt service. IonQ at June 30: $3.0 billion ÷ $509.6 million is about 5.9 years, or about 5.5 years including capital spending. That balance predates the SkyWater acquisition. IonQ puts the pro-forma figure, after the cash used for SkyWater, at $2.0 billion, which would give about 3.9 years on the same operating burn.

These estimates assume burn stays flat, and the filings show it does not. Operating cash use roughly tripled at IonQ and more than doubled at D-Wave and QCi from one year to the next. Doubling a half-year figure also misses seasonal patterns and contract timing. Acquisitions are left out too. D-Wave attributes over 90% of the $273.1 million year-on-year drop in its cash and securities to the cash paid for Quantum Circuits.

Runway arithmetic leaves out three other things. First, paying people in stock lowers cash burn but adds shares. Second, warrant exercises bring in cash only when holders choose, which depends on the share price. Third, companies decide when to raise money. IonQ reported $3.0 billion at June 30, or $2.0 billion pro forma for the SkyWater acquisition, and still sold about $2 billion more in October. Long runways have not stopped these companies from raising, so a runway figure tells you little about future dilution.

Sources: [4] [7] [6] [2] [1] [9]

Our interpretation

What the evidence does not show yet, and what to watch

Several things are not yet in the record. The documents opened here do not confirm that IonQ's October offering closed; the prospectus gives only an expected delivery date of October 16, 2026. They explain most, but not all, of IonQ's share increase between July 29 and October 13: the 10-Q says 24,135,775 shares were part of the SkyWater acquisition consideration. They do not show whether any Series C or pre-funded warrants have been exercised. Rigetti's warrant liability moved from non-current to current. The 10-Q's warrant note gives an expiry date of March 2, 2027, less than twelve months after June 30, 2026, but the sections checked here do not state the reason for the reclassification.

Checkable signals come next. Third-quarter 10-Qs for the period ending September 30, 2026 are likely in November, given that second-quarter results came out August 5 to 6; companies set their own dates. Those filings will show updated operating cash burn, capital spending, share counts on the cover and any new sufficiency language. An IonQ 8-K or the next 10-Q should confirm the offering's closing and list warrant exercises. New 424B5 filings or sales-agreement 8-Ks would show new ATM programs. Rigetti's warrant note will show whether its $11.50 warrants are exercised or expire.

Sources: [1] [3] [4] [2] [7]

Background

Evidence date and disclosure

Every source was opened on 2026-10-18, and the piece was checked against those sources before publication. Company statements are the companies' own claims; percentages and comparisons are this publication's arithmetic from the cited figures. The publisher may hold positions in companies covered; see Disclosures.

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]