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See the pitch deck quantum computing startup Pasqal used to raise $29.3 million and compete with Google and IBM
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- This is the pitch deck French quantum computing startup Pasqal used to raise a $29.3 million Series A in June.
- Pasqal wants to build a full quantum computing device operating on the cloud by 2023.
- Pasqal competes with giants like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Intel, and Amazon in quantum computing.
The French quantum computing startup Pasqal has big plans for the next two years.
It wants to build a leading hub for quantum technology in Paris along with stronger processors. It’s planning to provide cloud access to its quantum computing services to customers by the end of 2022 and a full quantum computing device operating on the cloud by 2023. That’s according to Pasqal’s pitch deck that it used to raise $29.3 million in Series A funding in June, led by the Defense Innovation Fund and Quantonation, where one of the cofounders is a managing partner. It has now raised a total of $30.44 million, according to PitchBook.
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Pasqal plans to use the funding to advance the development of its processors and applications, as well as build a service that allows customers to use its quantum computing services on the cloud. Already, it has won over customers like Crédit Agricole CIB, EDF, Rahko, Multiverse Computing and Qubit Pharmaceuticals.
Cloud access to quantum computing could help customers solve complex problems in optimization and chemistry exponentially faster than they do currently, they said. Still, cloud quantum computing is early, and some experts predict it may take another five to 10 years to be ready for commercial use.
Georges-Olivier Reymond and Christophe Jurczak founded Pasqal in 2019 after each spending decades working for research groups and startups. They both have PhDs in quantum physics. While Reymond was doing his PhD, he kept tabs on the quantum computing industry and would read about it in scientific magazines, he told Insider.
“We are very excited to demonstrate the first initial use case using this technology,” Reymond, the company’s CEO, 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 that Pasqal’s core technology for storing information is different.
IBM and Google rely on superconductors to build quantum computers. In addition, their technology requires large, complex cooling technologies to keep artificial atoms in its 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 neutrally charged atoms one by one and then control hundreds of atoms at once by lining them up into arrays. 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 store and process exponentially more information when these atoms interact with each other.
This allows the computers to have more flexibility and scalability, Reymond said. The company is aiming to reach quantum advantage by 2023, meaning that its quantum computer can outperform a classical computer. This is similar to a milestone that Google claims it reached two years ago.
While Google’s experiment was a proof of concept, Pasqal aims to build a commercially viable solution. Its pitch to investors is that it can deliver an industry advantage with its unique technology. Right now, it’s working with large corporations to figure out what are the best quantum algorithms required to solve their problems, such as in sustainable energy, simulating microscopic materials, and reducing financial risks.
Reymond expects quantum computing will be the next industrial revolution.
“I’m pretty convinced this will be triggered by quantum computers,” Reymond said. “People will be able to use this huge computing power. Like switching from manual work to machines, this is the same kind of revolution we’re talking about.”
Here’s the pitch deck Pasqal used to raise its Series A.
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