Georges-Olivier Reymond, president and co-founder of Pasqal, is preparing to announce, within a fortnight, a fundraising “Two-digit”, in millions, according to a close source. A record for the sector. However, when he defended his thesis on this subject at the Optics Institute twenty years ago, he did not imagine, after his career as an engineer in industry, that he would be the first French to produce a quantum computer.
Created in 2019 as an offshoot of the Optics Institute, and with the advice of physicist Alain Aspect – known for his work on quantum entanglement – the company has designed a prototype quantum machine capable of handling 100 to 200 qubits . The qubit is the smallest basic unit of a quantum computer, the equivalent of the transistor for a traditional computer. “It is not yet an industrial machine, but it will be one when we reach 1000 qubits, by 2023”, says Georges-Olivier Reymond.
“One or two years in advance”
The company financed its beginnings thanks to a grant from the European Innovation Council (European Innovation Council), to various schemes from the public bank Bpifrance and to a seed investment from the Quantonation fund. It also won the Grand Prix of the i-Lab innovation competition from Bpifrance. “We are one or two years ahead in the technology that we have developed, and we are the first French company to produce a quantum machine. This gives us a competitive advantage ”, welcomes Georges-Olivier Reymond.
Of course, Pasqal has competitors, mainly American and from the academic world. “A few years ago, there were three academic groups working on the subject around the world, there are more than fifty today. Everyone is going into quantum, it’s very impressive. We’ve never seen that in physics. It must be said that it is a real disruptive technology. ” Pasqal now has twenty people, in addition to the five co-founders. “We are recruiting twenty people this year, mainly engineers to develop and produce the machines that will soon be installed in computer centers. Our workforce should be 100 people in 2023 ”, he anticipates. Notice to amateurs …