Quandela Announces First Investment Round Backed by Quantonation and Bpifrance

Quandela has closed its first round table to develop unique, high-performance and reliable photonic qubit sources that are the company considers a technological building block for the creation of photonic quantum computers, secure quantum networks and ultra-precise sensors, according to a company news release.

This round was carried out with Quantonation, the first fund dedicated to quantum technologies, and Bpifrance.

Created in 2017 by Pascale Senellart (CNRS senior scientist), Valérian Giesz and Niccolo Somaschi, Quandela is a spin-off from the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanoechnology (C2N, CNRS-Université Paris Saclay) in Palaiseau, in the scientific cluster of Paris-Saclay.

According to the release, Quandela is one of the first companies in the world to market photonic qubit emitters in the form of single photon sources for the development of optical quantum computers and, in the middle term, their networking via secure quantum communications. Based on unique know-how and several patents, Quandela’s semiconductor nanostructure technology enables the emission of single photons very efficiently and extremely reliably.

Two orders have already been delivered to customers in Australia and in Russia and new orders from European customers have been signed.

Valérian Giesz, CEO and co-Founder of Quandela, said: “With this fundraising, we have accumulated almost 1.5 million euros to accelerate the commercial deployment of our new generation of products, even more efficient, easy-to-use and reliable. The signals given in France in support of a national quantum industry are extremely encouraging and our experience positions us in a privileged way to make France a world leader in quantum technologies.”

This seed tour was led by the Fund Quantonation. Jean-Gabriel Boinot-Tramoni, member of the Board of Quandela said: “The Quandela team seduced us by its extreme scientific and technical competence but also by its vision on all applications of quantum, and its ability to deliver products today. Their technology has demonstrated outstanding performance with academics clients, the goal now is to grow and become a world industry leader.”

Niccolo Somaschi, CTO and co-founder of Quandela, said the investment is a vote of confidence in their technology.

“This gesture of confidence from Quantonation and Bpifrance is accompanied by a strong traction at the European level where Quandela is recognized as an essential supplier for the development of optical quantum computers,” said Somaschi. “The latter have the ability to scale up and demonstrate a quantum advantage for commercial applications in molecule, materials design, finance and other emerging applications.”

This fundraising with Quantonation has been amplified by Bpifrance’s French Tech Seed mechanism, which aims to finance less than three-year-old deeptech start-ups that are in the post-maturation phase. The leverage of the scheme on private investment, has enabled Quandela to raise 500K€ from the Public Investment Bank (Bpifrance) in the form of convertible bonds.

Michael Fournier, deputy general manager of SATT Paris-Saclay and pilot of the French Tech Seed Paris-Saclay consortium, commented, “Several of the start-ups labelled ‘French Tech Seed Paris-Saclay’ tell us of the gesture of confidence that this label represents for the investors who accompany them, thanks in particular to the reputation of the members of the selection committee and thanks to the excellence of the support they receive.”