IPO Edge and the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association hosted a fireside chat with the CEO and COO of Rigetti & Co., Inc. and the CFO of Supernova Partners Acquisition Co. II, Ltd. (NYSE: SNII). The event featured Rigetti Founder & CEO Chad Rigetti and COO Taryn Naidu along with Supernova II CFO Michael Clifton, joined by IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and Editor-at-Large Jarrett Banks in a moderated video session lasting approximately 60 minutes and including a Q&A with the audience.
Rigetti Computing is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. The company’s proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides ultra-low latency integration with public and private clouds for high-performance practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industry’s first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry’s only dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Rigetti was founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti and today employs more than 130 people with offices in the United States, U.K., Canada, and Australia. Learn more at www.rigetti.com.
Messrs. Rigetti, Naidu, and Clifton discussed:
– Full-stack quantum computing
– Rigetti corporate and technical overview
– Go-to-market strategy
– Recent contract wins
– Upcoming merger with Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II, Ltd.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Chad Rigetti is a quantum computing entrepreneur and physicist and the founder and CEO of Rigetti. Since founding the company in 2013, Dr. Rigetti has led the company to become a preeminent global leader in quantum computing. He has raised more than $200M in venture funding, built a world class leadership team and board, and institutionalized the company’s pioneering innovation capabilities. Prior to Rigetti, Dr. Rigetti worked in the quantum computing group at IBM Research. Dr. Rigetti’s research focused on the development of novel silicon-based chip architectures, control schemes, and system-level designs for practical quantum computing systems. He is an inventor of 38 issued U.S. patents and author of more than 20 peer- reviewed scientific publications with more than 4,000 citations. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University and a B.S. in Physics with Honors from the University of Regina.
Taryn Naidu has served as Rigetti’s Chief Operating Officer since March 2019. He has nearly 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience through a number of successful organizations. Prior to Rigetti, Mr. Naidu served as Chief Executive Officer at publicly traded Rightside Group, Ltd. from 2014 to 2017 where he led the company through its inception to its ultimate sale. Mr. Naidu also served as an Executive Vice President at Demand Media where he led their services business from 2008 to 2014. Mr. Naidu joined the advisory board of Reskill Americans in 2021. He has a B.Sc. in computer science from the University of Regina.
Michael Clifton is the CFO of Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II. Mr. Clifton has been an investor and financial professional for over 18 years. He was most recently a senior investment professional at The Carlyle Group for approximately a decade as a member of its flagship U.S. Buyout team where he helped lead Carlyle’s investing activities in the technology and business services sectors. During his tenure he worked on transactions involving companies in multiple sectors, including enterprise software, FinTech and IT services. He has served on four private boards and has been a board observer of a public company.
Over his career, Mr. Clifton has been involved in transactions with a total value in excess of $30 billion, including multiple leveraged buyouts, growth investments, carve-outs, and turnarounds. Mr. Clifton has substantial public market experience and has helped lead the public exits of three portfolio companies, representing the sale of over $5 billion in equity. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Clifton worked at two mid-market private equity firms, as well as in the M&A group of Bank of America Securities. He earned a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in classics from Davidson College and an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.
Contact:
Jarrett Banks, Editor-at-Large
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