UK pension savings head to Oxford Quantum Circuits and Quantum Motion via Scottish Widows

Two British quantum computer builders are set to receive money from ordinary workplace pension savers. Scottish Widows, Aberdeen Investments and IP Group announced on November 2 the first investments of a UK venture growth portfolio inside the CG Scottish Widows Growth LTAF, and Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) and Quantum Motion are two of the four companies named.

The deal

Aberdeen Investments manages the growth sub-fund for Scottish Widows and has appointed IP Group to run a UK venture growth portfolio within it, according to the joint announcement and IP Group's stock exchange notice. The initial investments are expected to include:

• Oxford Quantum Circuits, described as building commercially available quantum computing systems;
• Quantum Motion, described as building scalable silicon-based quantum computers designed for mass adoption;
• Nyobolt, an ultra-fast-charging battery developer;
• Genomics Limited, which applies AI and large genetic datasets to preventative healthcare and drug discovery.

The partners did not disclose the size of the mandate or of the individual investments. The fund says it is among the first UK pension schemes to actively allocate members' capital to UK venture growth companies.

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An LTAF, or long-term asset fund, is a UK fund structure built to hold illiquid assets such as private company shares. According to The Quantum Insider, citing Corporate Adviser, Scottish Widows' main default pension funds will invest in the LTAF; its Lifetime Investment Plus option has about 11% exposure to private markets, while Lifetime Investment Extra targets 23%.

What the partners say

The stated aim is twofold: better long-term returns for pension members and more follow-on capital for UK companies that are ready to commercialise and scale. Nalaka De Silva, head of private markets solutions at Aberdeen Investments, argued that what the country's competitive companies have lacked is "sufficient pools of patient domestic capital."

Scottish Widows chief investment officer Peter Fitzgerald said the proposition gives workplace pension customers access to opportunities that have mainly been open to institutional investors. IP Group chief executive Greg Smith told Pensions Age that the first investments span quantum computing, clean energy and healthcare, and that he sees the arrangement as the start of a larger opportunity.

Why it matters

Quantum hardware companies need large, repeated funding rounds long before revenue catches up, and in the UK much of that later-stage money has historically come from overseas. A domestic pension channel, even a small one at first, gives OQC (superconducting systems) and Quantum Motion (silicon spin qubits) a new type of backer with a long time horizon. The partners say the model can be expanded over time as part of the fund's broader private markets remit.

What to watch

Key details are still missing: how much money is going in, at what valuations and whether the fund is buying new or existing shares. The announcements say the initial investments are "expected to include" the four companies, so completed deals and amounts are the next thing to look for.