Insider Brief
- Glasgow-based M Squared Lasers, once a leading UK photonics and quantum technology firm, has ceased trading and entered administration after nearly 20 years in business.
- In the UK, “administration” is similar to U.S. bankruptcy protection, with court-appointed administrators taking control of companies that can’t pay their debts.
- M Squared’s collapse, following supply chain disruptions, investor shortfalls, and talent shortages, highlights the challenges facing Britain’s ambitions to become a global hub for quantum technology.
M Squared Lasers, a Glasgow-based photonics and quantum technology company once regarded as a UK deep tech success story, has ceased trading and entered administration after nearly two decades in business, according to Business Cloud.
In the UK, “administration” is similar to U.S. bankruptcy protection: a formal insolvency process where an independent administrator takes control of a company that can’t pay its debts.
Founded in 2006, the firm built an international reputation for high-performance laser platforms used in both quantum technologies and advanced research. An important hub of the emerging quantum ecosystem in Scotland, its systems were also deployed across the UK, Europe, the United States and Asia in projects ranging from fundamental physics experiments to medical and life sciences research. Despite those achievements, the company’s finances unraveled in recent years under the weight of global disruptions, leaving it unable to continue operations.
The collapse highlights the fragility of specialized hardware companies in a sector often dependent on global supply chains and government-backed research contracts. Business Cloud reported that M Squared’s difficulties stemmed from the combined pressures of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which created shortages of critical components. That pressure was compounded by heightened competition for skilled engineers and a slowdown in demand from some key customers, leaving the company unable to secure the investment it needed to recover.
At its peak, M Squared Lasers was seen as one of UK’s quantum instry leaders. Its co-founder and chief executive, Graeme Malcolm, an entrepreneur recognized with an OBE, steered the firm to a place on Deloitte’s Fast 50 list in 2013, a ranking of the country’s fastest-growing technology companies. The company’s products won awards and were used in prominent research programs around the world.
According to Business Cloud, the company’s board had sought new funding to stabilize operations and position for growth, but attempts to attract investors fell short. The result was insolvency and the loss of 28 jobs, according to the tech magazine.
Administrators from Interpath Advisory—Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs—were appointed this week to handle the process. In the UK, entering administration is a formal insolvency procedure similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, intended to protect a struggling company from creditors while administrators attempt to rescue or sell its assets. Business Cloud said Interpath is now seeking buyers for M Squared’s intellectual property, customer relationships, and unfinished projects, with the aim of salvaging value from the collapse.
“M Squared is a groundbreaking and award-winning technology business, which has served scientists, universities and a wide-range of private sector customers for 20 years,” Jacobs told Business Cloud. “Amongst other significant and innovative achievements, the company has created a laser platform which is scalable, compact and robust, and which is contributing to studies in quantum technologies around the world. We are now rapidly exploring options to sell the business and its prized assets, including the company’s highly specialised intellectual property, and encourage any interested parties to contact us quickly.”
More broadly, the demise of M Squared comes as the UK is attempting to establish itself as a global hub for quantum technologies. The government has pledged billions in funding over the next decade to accelerate development and commercialization. The loss of one of its longest-standing quantum firms underscores the difficulties facing even well-regarded companies in navigating supply shortages, high capital needs and the race for talent in a still nascent industry.
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