Insider Brief
- Quobly announces the closing of its first fundraising round amounting to 19 million euros.
- The company was formerly known as Siquance.
- The round was led by Quantonation, Bpifrance through the Deep Tech 2030 fund managed on behalf of the State as part of France 2030, Supernova Invest and Innovacom.
PRESS RELEASE — Quobly, formerly known as Siquance, a company developing a fault-tolerant quantum computing processor, announces the closing of its first fundraising round amounting to 19 million euros.
Led by Quantonation, Bpifrance through the Deep Tech 2030 fund managed on behalf of the State as part of France 2030, Supernova Invest, and Innovacom, with the participation of Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement and CEA Investissement, Caisse d’Epargne Rhone Alpes, and BNP Paribas, this operation aims to double the company’s research and development efforts and establish the necessary remote access interfaces for software development.
Becoming a global leader in quantum computing Quantum computing promises a breakthrough in computing performance and addresses a variety of strategic and cutting-edge industrial sectors such as healthcare, engineering, energy, chemistry, transportation, and finance. Disruptive in nature, it offers an opportunity for Europe to restore the balance of power with the United States and Asia in the digital field.
Founded in 2022 in Grenoble, Quobly is a company that develops error-tolerant quantum computing processors. The technological innovation, compared to early quantum computer prototypes, is based on the use of standard classical computing technologies to define quantum bits, the basic units of quantum computing. This opens the door to manufacturing the millions of quantum bits required to enable fault-tolerant computation. Quobly leverages existing production capacities, particularly French and European semiconductor factories.
After 20 years of silicon technology development for computing, Maud Vinet (CEO) co-founded Quobly with Tristan Meunier (CTO), an international expert in quantum engineering, and François Perruchot (CSO), who has over 10 years of experience in strategic marketing for advanced technology. François, Tristan, and Maud are internationally recognized pioneers in silicon-based quantum computing. They build upon 15 years of strategic research conducted within CEA and CNRS. The company receives strong support from CEA and CNRS, which are initially present in its capital.
This funding round enables Quobly to establish technological partnerships and create a leading partner ecosystem to accelerate its R&D in the race for both quantity and quality of quantum bits. Quobly is now recruiting the best international experts in silicon technologies and quantum engineering, with the ambition to have 50 employees by the end of 2024. Quobly benefits from the expertise of CEA and CNRS, their R&D capabilities, and their intellectual property through collaboration and licensing agreements. Quobly also benefits from their robust ecosystems, covering all quantum technological challenges from fundamental research to industrialization. This fundraising round represents the largest “seed” financing ever achieved by a European quantum company in terms of private capital invested.
“This first fundraising round will allow us to accelerate our technological developments by establishing links with industrial players in microelectronics and conducting scientific demonstrations that will position us as a technological leader. We are delighted to rely on Quantonation, Bpifrance, Supernova Invest, and Innovacom, who have recognized sector expertise in the quantum, semiconductor, and deep tech fields,” says Maud Vinet, President and Co-founder of Quobly.
Olivier Tonneau, partner at Quantonation, commented: “With exceptional scientific and technological expertise, the Quobly team also benefits from strong connections with the semiconductor technology ecosystem to fully exploit the potential of their technology. We are convinced that their spin qubit platform in silicon will enable the scaling of quantum processors and the achievement of regimes inaccessible to classical processors. The Quantonation team is proud to support Quobly through our Quantonation I fund.”
“This initial investment by the Deep Tech 2030 fund, managed on behalf of the State, in Quobly’s capital confirms Bpifrance’s strong commitment to supporting the most ambitious French deeptech companies. We were impressed by the experience and complementarity of the founding team in both quantum physics and the semiconductor domain. We are very pleased to participate in this operation and look forward to discovering the technological progress that the company will make in the coming months,” adds Gwenaël Hamon, Senior Investment Director at Bpifrance.
“By developing a semiconductor-based quantum computer, Quobly is opening an exciting and relevant path towards truly performant quantum computers. The company’s approach will bring about a major technological and industrial revolution, the result of many years of research conducted by CEA and CNRS. Supernova Invest is proud to support this pioneering team by investing with our new Supernova Innovation 3 fund in this Grenoble-based gem with global potential,” comments Damien Bretegnier, Investment Director at Supernova Invest.
“Our Technocom3 seed fund is proud to support this ambitious scientific, technological, and entrepreneurial project. Supporting pioneering initiatives is part of Innovacom’s DNA, and we are convinced that Quobly has the necessary assets to bring innovative industrial dimensions to quantum computing,” adds Frédéric Humbert, member of the executive board at Innovacom.
For this operation, Quobly was advised by the law firms Kelten Avocats Grenoble, Franck Robert avocats, and KP Social.
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