Quantum computing start-up Pasqal raised $ 29.3 million in June

• This is the pitch deck that French quantum computing startup Pasqal used to raise a $ 29.3 million Series A in June.
• Pasqal wants to build a complete quantum computing device running in the cloud by 2023.
• Pasqal competes with giants like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Intel and Amazon in quantum computing.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

French quantum computing startup Pasqal has big plans for the next two years.

He wants to build a leading pole for quantum technology in Paris as well as more powerful processors. It plans to provide cloud access to its quantum computing services to customers by the end of 2022 and a full quantum computing device running in the cloud by 2023. It is according to Pasqal’s pitch deck that it used to increase $ 29.3 million in Series A funding in June, led by the Defense Innovation Fund and Quantonation, one of the co-founders of which is managing partner. He has now raised a total of $ 30.44 million, according to PitchBook.

Pasqal plans to use the funding to advance the development of its processors and applications, as well as to create a service that enables customers to use its quantum computing services in the cloud. It has already won over clients such as Crédit Agricole CIB, EDF, Rahko, Multiverse Computing and Qubit Pharmaceuticals.

Cloud access to quantum computing could help customers solve complex optimization and chemistry problems exponentially faster than they currently do, they said. Yet quantum cloud computing is early on, and some experts predict that it may take another five to ten years to be ready for commercial use.

Georges-Olivier Reymond and Christophe Jurczak founded Pasqal in 2019 after each having spent decades working for research groups and startups. They both have doctorates in quantum physics. While Reymond was doing his doctorate, he kept an eye on the quantum computing industry and read about it in science magazines, he told Insider.

“We are very excited to demonstrate the first initial use case using this technology,” Reymond, CEO of the company, told Insider. “This technology will be able to solve something useful.”

Pasqal competes with tech giants like IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, and Baidu, as well as startups like IonQ and D-Wave. The founders say Pascal’s core technology for information storage is different.

IBM and Google rely on superconductors to build quantum computers. Additionally, their technology requires large, complex cooling technologies to keep artificial atoms in their quantum state, but Reymond says Pasqal’s approach can work with them at room temperature.

Pasqal’s quantum computers have a processor that uses a laser beam to isolate the neutrally charged atoms one by one, then control hundreds of atoms at a time by lining them up in networks. The processor can then shape the atoms to be programmed to solve complex problems.

These atoms will have quantum properties, such as superposition, which allows them to be in multiple states at once. This allows the computer to exponentially store and process more information as these atoms interact with each other.

This allows computers to have more flexibility and scalability, Reymond said. The company aims to achieve a quantum advantage by 2023, which means its quantum computer can outperform a conventional computer. This is similar to a milestone that Google claims to have reached two years ago.

While Google’s experiment was a proof of concept, Pasqal aims to build a commercially viable solution. Its argument for investors is that it can offer an industrial advantage thanks to its unique technology. Right now, he’s working with large companies to figure out what are the best quantum algorithms needed to solve their problems, such as sustainable energy, simulating microscopic materials, and reducing financial risk.

Reymond expects quantum computing to be the next industrial revolution.

“I’m pretty sure this will be triggered by quantum computers,” Reymond said. “People will be able to use this enormous computing power. Like going from manual labor to machines, it’s the same kind of revolution we’re talking about.”

Here is the pitch deck Pasqal used to elevate his Series A.