The acquisition will integrate Seed’s machine learning and cloud architecture expertise into IonQ’s quantum infrastructure team, enabling system performance optimization and expansion of enterprise-ready solutions across IonQ’s QI platform.
COLLEGE PARK, MD – January 28, 2026 – IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading quantum platform company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seed Innovations, a Colorado-based software and technology research and development company. The company is focused on providing technology solutions and process improvements that address the complex challenges faced by government and commercial customers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Seed Innovations team will join IonQ’s Quantum Infrastructure business, with Seed Innovations founder Marlu Oswald reporting to Frank Backes, president of IonQ Quantum Infrastructure.
At IonQ, Seed will deploy its expertise in machine learning (ML), advanced software architectures, and cloud migration to accelerate IonQ’s work in developing an enterprise-grade, AI-driven software layer that will be essential to managing and scaling complex quantum workloads.
Founded in 2013, Seed Innovations has established itself as a provider of full lifecycle software development, legacy systems upgrades, and research and development for the Department of the Army (DoW), intelligence community, and commercial sectors.
Frank Backes, president of quantum infrastructure at IonQ, said: “This acquisition expands IonQ’s software capabilities as we build the world’s only enterprise-grade full-stack quantum platform.” “Seed Innovations’ expertise in machine learning and autoscaling architectures will help optimize performance across quantum applications.”
Seed Innovations is focused on delivering significant performance improvements for IonQ, including:
- AI-optimized quantum performance: Leverage Seed’s deep ML and advanced algorithmic expertise to help analyze system data, predict behavior, and drive continuous improvement.
- Enterprise-scale automation: Implement Seed’s proven DevOps and autoscaling architecture to support IonQ’s scaling goals.
- Seamless cloud integrationn: Leverage Seed’s extensive experience in cloud migration and microservices to enhance IonQ availability across all major cloud providers.
This acquisition reflects IonQ’s commitment to building an enterprise-quality full-stack platform that includes quantum computing, quantum networking, quantum sensing, and quantum security. Seed Innovations joins a growing portfolio of strategic quantum acquisitions including Skyloom, Vector Atomic, Capella Space, Oxford Ionics, ID Quantique, Lightsynq, Qubitekk, and the recently announced acquisition deal for US semiconductor manufacturer SkyWater Technology.
IonQ expects the transaction to close on January 30, 2026.
About IonQ
Aeon Q Co., Ltd. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum platform company providing quantum computing, networking, sensing and security solutions. IonQ’s latest generation of quantum computers, the upcoming IonQ Tempo, will be the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have helped customers and partners, including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA, achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved a two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.99%, setting a world record for quantum computing performance.
IonQ is headquartered in College Park, Maryland, and has more than 1,300 employees in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, as well as serving customers’ networking and sensing needs across land, sea, air and space. IonQ makes quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. For more information, please visit IonQ.com.
About Seed Innovations
Seed Innovations LLC is a Colorado-based women-owned small business (WOSB) specializing in full-lifecycle software development, cloud migration, and technology research and development (R&D). Machine learning, software architecture, and cloud experts, Seed’s staff of software architects, software developers, site reliability engineers (SREs), and machine learning PhDs enable Seed to develop innovative solutions to complex technical challenges. Seed develops, implements, and executes large-scale technology solutions for clients in the DoW, federal, and commercial sectors. Seed Innovations has certifications in technology areas such as Scaled Agile Framework, SCRUM, Security Plus, AWS, and Project Management.
IonQ Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the anticipated timing of the closing of the transaction, Seed Innovations’ focus after the closing of the transaction, and the impact on and integration of our business. In some cases, these statements may include “pending,” “forward-looking,” “accelerating,” “anticipating,” “expecting,” “proposing,” “planning,” “believe,” “intending,” “estimate,” “targeting,” ” You can identify them by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “should,” “could,” “will,” “may,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “confident,” and other similar expressions. These statements are only predictions based on the Company’s expectations and projections of future events as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate, any of which may prove inaccurate. The Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the Board under the heading “Risk Factors” could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. SEC, and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2025, June 30, 2025 and September 30, 2025 filed with the SEC. Although new risks arise from time to time, it is not possible for our management to predict all risks and it is not possible for our management to assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. Unless otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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