GAS welcomed QLM to its portfolio in Spring 2021 and has now invested in a £12 million Series A funding round led by Schlumberger. Methane gas has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years of its release into the atmosphere and accounts for around 25% of today’s global warming.

With support from Innovate UK, QLM has developed a ground-breaking quantum-enabled gas imaging LiDAR (laser imaging, detection, and ranging) camera able to visualise and quantify methane leaks caused by oil and natural gas extraction. This enables customers to monitor, detect, accurately locate and quantify Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission sources for rapid and prioritised repair.

The technology is unique in the emissions monitoring marketplace in its potential to achieve the greatest amount of GHG abatement at the lowest cost of ownership; the LiDAR technology is high-performance and scalable to low cost at high volume. This round of investment will advance QLM’s Quantum Gas Imaging LiDAR and deploy QLM cameras across the oil and gas and other markets.

Although the largest man-made source of methane emissions is agriculture, responsible for around a quarter of all emissions, the second largest source is the energy sector. This includes emissions from coal, oil, natural gas and biofuels. Beyond emissions monitoring for the oil and gas market, the QLM solution is well-suited for use in other GHG-intensive applications such as biomethane production, and in agricultural and wastewater operations.

The round was led by Schlumberger with support from Green Angel Syndicate, Enterprise100 Syndicate, Development Bank of Wales, Newable, Quantum Exponential and several private investors. As a company with headquarters in Cardiff and operations in Bristol, this funding round also included British Business Investments funds committed to Green Angel Syndicate through its Regional Angels Programme.

“The technology is unique in the emissions monitoring marketplace in its potential to achieve the greatest amount of GHG abatement at the lowest cost of ownership,” said Murray Reed, Chief Executive Officer, QLM. “The funding and strategic relationship with our new lead investor, Schlumberger, and expanded backing of initial and new investors will allow us to scale our manufacturing, enabling significant cost reduction, as we launch our solution into the various GHG-intensive industries and markets.”

CEO of Green Angel Syndicate Cam Ross commented: “Cutting methane emissions is vital for slowing the acceleration of climate change, as the immediate effects of releasing methane into the atmosphere are devastating. Rolling out QLM’s quantum technology across the oil and gas industry will help to stem the release of this dangerous greenhouse gas while we focus on the much needed transition to clean, green fuel sources.”