July 2026
IN THIS EDITION...
New Mexico awards six quantum companies
EQ welcomes new Chief Financial Officer
Colorado incentivizes for new R&D facility
Colorado Quantum Incubator earns $500k grant
Jobs, events, and more!
The Quantum Lead
New Mexico Awards $1.2M to Six Quantum Companies
Economic Development New Mexico’s Technology & Innovation Office awarded $1.2 million through the New Mexico Quantum Technologies Award, sending up to $200,000 each to six early-stage quantum and quantum-enabling companies growing operations in the state. Recipients must maintain New Mexico operations for at least two years beyond the grant period.
The six awardees include Bandelier Technologies, Conductor Quantum, Mesa Photonics, Mesa Quantum, Photon Queue, and UbiQD.
Quantum Additions
Elevate Quantum Welcomes Dawn Conley as Chief Financial Officer
Elevate Quantum welcomed Dawn Conley as our new Chief Financial Officer this month. Prior to EQ, Dawn spent years building the financial foundation of a mission-driven, federally engaged innovation organization, with deep experience in diversifying revenue, managing complex federal vehicles, and connecting an ecosystem. As CFO, she will lead financial strategy and controls, ensure discipline behind the public investment, and help chart the region’s path toward a self-sustaining quantum economy.
“She brings a rare combination of financial leadership, operational discipline, and a deep understanding of how mission-driven organizations translate public dollars into lasting economic impact,” said Elevate Quantum CEO Jessi Olsen.
Please join us in welcoming Dawn.
Quantum Investment
Colorado Puts Up $13.4M in Incentives to Land New R&D Facility
The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved an incentive package of up to $4.4 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits and $9 million in CHIPS Refundable Tax Credits for an unnamed quantum company code-named "Project Laser."
The CHIPS credits account for the state’s remaining CHIPS incentive capacity for the next three fiscal years, a signal of how aggressively Colorado is competing for the company’s next facility.
According to The Denver Post, the package is tied to an 80,000-to-100,000-square-foot R&D facility likely to land in Boulder County, and up to 225 net new jobs over eight years.
Quantum Research
Colorado Quantum Incubator Wins $500K for Open-Access Photonic Testing Facility
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade approved a $500,000 grant last month for the Colorado Quantum Incubator, funding a new open-access photonic testing facility called PICACTs - the Photonic Integrated Circuits Assembly Characterization and Test Facility.
CU Boulder is spearheading the project in partnership with Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, and EQ.
PICACTs is designed to address a critical packaging and testing bottleneck in the state’s quantum industry, offering an advanced suite of tools and expert staff to train users and develop standardized workflows. The facility complements Q-PAC at Quantum Commons and EQUIP, launching in August.
Quantum Innovation
Maybell Quantum Deploys Four Dilution Refrigerators at New Mexico’s Roadrunner Quantum Lab
Maybell Quantum announced it will deploy a fleet of four advanced dilution refrigerators at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab (RQL) in downtown Albuquerque, becoming the third leading quantum company to anchor New Mexico’s $450 million statewide quantum initiative. The refrigerators will provide the ultra-low millikelvin temperatures required to run superconducting and spin-qubit quantum processors, with onsite installation of all four scheduled to complete by September.
The deployment is financed through a shared capital model, with a portion of the fridges purchased directly by Roadrunner Venture Studios and the remainder supplied by Maybell. Maybell is also hiring engineering and technical staff on the ground in Albuquerque to run lab operations, support customer integration, and recruit new tenants.
Combined with Qunnect’s open-access quantum networking loop and QuEra’s $4 million neutral-atom testbed, RQL now offers a full-stack testing environment for quantum startups and researchers working across Colorado and New Mexico.
Quantum Events
Innovative Lending for Quantum Companies Webinar on August 26
Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) is hosting a webinar on August 26 at 10:30am MT to walk through details and recent developments under the Colorado Quantum Fund for Innovative Lending, a state incentive designed to encourage debt lending into the quantum sector by offering lenders a 100% refundable tax credit that functions as a stop-loss cushion.
For every eligible loan made and registered with OEDIT, the lender may earn up to 15% of the loan amount in a Conditional Tax Credit, which is added to a pool specific to that lender. If the lender later incurs a loss on a registered loan, they can apply to recoup it from their pool; as more loans are registered, the pool grows and coverage grows with it.
Both prospective lenders and investors (nationwide banks, venture debt partners, and other lenders) and potential borrowers are welcome to attend.
Looking Ahead
EQUIP’s First Cohort Launches in August
The first EQUIP cohort launches next month at Quantum Commons. The Elevate Quantum Vacuum and Cryogenic Technician Training Program, unveiled in May in partnership with Front Range Community College and CU Denver, pairs industry-grade cryogenic hardware with stackable 10-to-40-hour credentials covering vacuum systems, feedthroughs, 4K dry cryostat operations, dilution refrigerator operations, helium leak detection, and systems integration.
Watch this space for the first update from the floor.
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