Executive Summary
It has been an exciting start for 2023 in France’s quantum ecosystem In fact, you could say it’s been a historic start. France’s neutral atom quantum computing startup PASQAL earned its share of headlines with a historic fundraise and new research advances. Paris-based Welinq looks like it will jump start its business journey with a €5 million pre-seed round. Businesses also reported success in gaining customers and adding clients.
Capital
Welinq Raises €5 Million in Pre-Seed Funding
Welinq, a Paris-based start-up developing quantum interconnects based on neutral-atom technology, has closed a €5 million financing round to deploy the world’s most efficient quantum memories at industrial standard in quantum computing and quantum communication infrastructures.
PASQAL Posts Historic Fund Raise
PASQAL raised the highest full-equity amount for a European quantum startup by closing a €100-Million round. Funds were provided by Singapore-based Temasek, the European Innovation Council, BPI France Large Ventures and historical investors like Quantonation, Daphni and Eni Next.
Business
Quantum Goes No-Code With PASQAL’s Zero-Code Development Platform For Neutral Atoms Quantum Computers
PASQAL, a leader in full stack quantum computing, is pleased to announce the release of Pulser Studio, the first no-code development platform for neutral atoms quantum computers. Thanks to its scalability potential, neutral atoms quantum computing is one of the most promising technologies and aims to achieve fault tolerance. PASQAL has previously developed Pulser, an open-source Python framework for designing and simulating pulse sequences that act on programmable arrays of neutral atoms.
New Startup: HiQuTe Diamond
A team of researchers based in CNRS — Centre National de la recherche scientifique — CNRS Innovation and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord announce the creation of a start-up, HiQuTe Diamond. The company will produce diamond plates for high value-added technological applications such as quantum sensors.
UK’s Hartree Centre to Add Another Atos Quantum Simulator
According to the announcement, UK Research & Innovation awarded £385,000 for a Quantum Learning Machine — or QLM. The device, which is a quantum simulator that mimics quantum behavior, is developed by Atos, a French based company with an IT services unit located in London.
Thales Alenia Space and Partners Sign Contract for Quantum Satellite Communications Project
Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to lead the TeQuantS project aimed at developing quantum space-to-Earth communications technologies. This contract, part of ESA’s ARTES 4.0 Core Competitiveness programme element, is supported by French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) and Austrian space agency ALR.
Research
Pasqal Co-Founder and Nobel Prize Winner Alain Aspect on Quantum’s Past, Present and Future
Alain Aspect is a French physicist whose ground-breaking work quantum entanglement later led to the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded jointly with John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. Dr. Aspect, in addition to being a member of the French Academy of Sciences and French Academy of Technologies, and a professor at the École Polytechnique, is co-founder of Pasqal. The neutral atom quantum computing company announced that it secured a €100 million equity Series B.
New Thermometer Improves Quantum Computer Stability
Université Grenoble Alpes researchers joined scientists from Aalto University and the University of Konstanz in a project to develop a reliable way to measure heat dissipation in superconducting circuits. This could lead to more stable and higher fidelity quantum machines,
Quandela and C2N Researchers Publish on Certified Randomness
Quandela and C2N researchers published an article on ArXiv that discusses a method for generating certified randomness on a small-scale device using entangled quantum states. The demonstration used a 2-qubit photonic device that reportedly achieves the highest standard in randomness and can be applied to real-world use cases.
PASQAL, Multiverse and Crédit Agricole CIB Publish on Real-World Quantum Use Cases
Crédit Agricole CIB and European technology leaders Pasqal and Multiverse Computing report conclusive results on two proofs of concept using quantum computing in real-world situations. These two experiments, initiated in June 2021 by Crédit Agricole CIB, aimed to evaluate the contribution of an algorithmic approach inspired by quantum computing, and the potential of quantum computers, in two areas: the valuation of financial products, and the assessment of credit risks.
Events
MEETICC: From Quantum Matter to Functional Materials
MEETICC was held Jan. 24-25 in Paris. The meeting was held to shed light on different families of materials with potential fruitful applications and to discuss their quantum properties. Organizers said the meeting will aim to highlight the link between fundamental research and applications.
EDF and Teratec Hold Conference on Hybrid Quantum Computing
A conference on hybrid computing was co-organized by EDF and Teratec in Palaiseau in the TQCI series (Teratec Quantum Computing Initiative). Speakers included Jacques-Charles La Foucrière from the CEA, Scott Pakin from the DoE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (remotely), Alexia Auffèves, Olivier and Théau Peronnin, whoc provide an update on the Quantum Energy Initiative, as well as Amazon (Sebastian Stern, Specialist Solution Architect Quantum Computing, AWS), IBM (Ismael Faro, Chief Architect Quantum Computing Cloud and Software) and Microsoft (Vivien Londe, Microsoft France).
