In a significant leap towards the future of quantum computing, Alice & Bob has successfully secured €100 million in its Series B funding round. This investment, led by Future French Champions (FFC), AXA Venture Partners (AVP), and Bpifrance, positions the company at the forefront of the race to develop the first universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Accelerating Towards a Quantum Future
Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob has already made waves in the quantum computing landscape, raising a total of €130 million to date and expanding its team to over 110 employees. The company specializes in cat qubits, a pioneering technology that has garnered attention for its potential to revolutionize quantum computing. Notably, this technology has also been adopted by industry giant Amazon.
“Having established performance records with our cat qubits, Alice & Bob now enters a new phase focused on building a quantum computer that can deliver valuable results,” stated Théau Peronnin, CEO of Alice & Bob. The company aims to create a useful quantum computer by 2030, a goal that is now more attainable with this latest funding.
The Innovation Behind Cat Qubits
What sets Alice & Bob apart is its exclusive focus on cat qubits, which offer a unique advantage in scaling quantum computers. While traditional approaches may require millions of qubits, Alice & Bob’s technology aims to achieve similar results with only thousands. This efficiency is largely due to the inherent suppression of bit-flip errors, a common challenge in quantum computing.
The implications of this innovation are profound. By enabling more efficient architectures for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers (FTQCs), cat qubits pave the way for real-world applications that were previously thought to be unattainable.
Strong Investor Confidence
The Series B funding round saw the return of all Series A investors, including Elaia Partners, Breega, Supernova Invest, and Bpifrance, alongside new institutional investors like FFC, AVP, and the European Innovation Council (EIC). This broad market confidence underscores the potential impact of Alice & Bob’s approach in the quantum computing sector.
The funding will be strategically allocated to enhance system performance, improve error correction, and develop the company’s first error-corrected logical qubit. Nearly half of the funds will support the construction of a state-of-the-art lab and production facility, while the remainder will facilitate team expansion, which has already doubled in the past year.
A Vision for Quantum Transformation
Elie Girard, Executive Chairman of Alice & Bob, emphasized the transformative potential of quantum computing across industries. “The engineering complexity has remained a major hurdle. Alice & Bob’s cat qubit innovation offers a clear path forward, combining efficiency and reliability to unlock quantum’s full potential,” he remarked.
François Robinet, Managing Partner at AVP, echoed this sentiment, stating, “We are now convinced that quantum computing is leaving the pure R&D space and is entering into an ‘industrial’ phase to soon address ‘real-life’ use cases, thanks to the technology that Alice & Bob has been developing.”
As Alice & Bob continues to push the boundaries of quantum computing, the future looks promising for both the company and the industry at large. With this latest funding, they are well-positioned to lead the charge in making practical quantum computing a reality.