The European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) celebrated the investment agreement with French company PASQAL, a leader in neutral atoms quantum computing. Founded on Nobel Prize-winning research of company’s co-founder Alain Aspect, PASQAL will use the funding to further develop its neutral atoms quantum computing platform, which it believes will deliver major commercial advantages over classical computers by 2024.
In the last funding round, PASQAL secured €100 million in equity. The EIC Fund was one of the investors.
The ceremony took place at the EIC stand at Hello Tomorrow, with company’s CEO Georges Reymond, EIC’s Jean David Malo and EIB’s Alessandro Izzo present. The EIC Board member Lars Frolund gave a welcome speech.
Background information
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.
The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
Source: European Innovation Council | News (https://bit.ly/3LdXnJe)