Newsroom / Press release

Quandela secures €50 million to support international expansion

Quandela has successfully secured over €50 million from investors, the French government through the France 2030 Plan, and banking partners. New investors, Serena, Credit Mutuel Innovation, and the European Innovation Council Fund, have joined the company’s capital, alongside existing historical investors, Bpifrance, OMNES Capital and Quantonation.

Paris, November 7th 2023. Quandela, the European leader in photonic quantum
computing, has successfully secured over €50 million from investors, the
French government through the France 2030 Plan, and banking partners. New
investors, Serena, Credit Mutuel Innovation, and the European Innovation
Council Fund, have joined the company’s capital, alongside existing historical
investors, Bpifrance 1, OMNES Capital and Quantonation. Quandela has also
received support from France 2030 as the laureate of the “Première usine” call
for projects, operated by Bpifrance. This capital increase will allow Quandela to
expedite its international expansion and increase the production of its
quantum computers to meet the needs of industrial clients.


Over the past few months, Quandela has achieved several milestones, solidifying its
position as the leading European provider of photonic quantum computing. By the end
of 2022, Quandela became the first player in the European Union, and one of the few
globally, to make its quantum computers accessible via the cloud. Furthermore,
Quandela was the first European supplier to open its quantum computer manufacturing
facility in June 2023, in Massy (France). Today, the first quantum computer produced
in this facility has just been delivered to OVHcloud datacenter. This marks the first
European quantum computer purchased and hosted by an industrial client.


Quandela has already initiated the production of three new machines within its facility,
scheduled for deliveries in 2024. Simultaneously, the company, which already
collaborates with EDF, ONERA and MBDA, continues to develop use cases with
industrial players both in France and abroad.

While already established in Germany, Quandela now aims to solidify its position in
North American and Asian markets. To meet these new challenges, the company plans
to increase its workforce in the coming months.
This fundraising round represents a significant milestone for Quandela, enabling the
acceleration of its growth and support for its international expansion. Quandela will
thus strengthen its presence on the global stage with the objective of supporting an
increasing number of industrial clients in utilizing quantum computing to address ever
more complex use cases.”


“We’re very proud to continue to support the growth of Quandela, which successfully
opened Europe’s first quantum computer production plant a few months ago. This
support is a perfect illustration of the ambitions of Bpifrance’s Deeptech plan: to
encourage the rise of French champions driving breakthrough innovations in the
coming decades.” Paul-François Fournier, Executive Director in charge of
Innovation.


“Many years of R&D have enabled Quandela to converge fundamental and applied
research with the first industrial results, delivering a quantum computer in the cloud as
well as quantum computers for private customers. Over and above the quality of the
teams and the technological depth of their solution, these European – and in some
respects global – innovations have convinced us of the project’s potential and
scalability. The computing power of quantum has become real and accessible.


Structuring the teams and implementing the international roadmap will be among the
value-creating milestones ensuring the project’s success. Supporting projects at the
cutting edge of French know-how, with a strong economic impact and the capacity to
prepare for industrialization, is fully in line with Crédit Mutuel Innovation’s strategy.”
Maxence Valero, VC Investment Director, Crédit Mutuel Innovation.


“Quandela, as a major European player in photonic quantum computing, embodies the
innovation and disruptive potential actively supported by the EIC. This investment
reflects our trust in their capacity to bring about significant change and drive innovation
in the global technological landscape.” Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund
Board.


“At Serena, we’re convinced that quantum computing will revolutionize tomorrow’s
world. The choice of photonics, combined with a full-stack quantum architecture, is the
most promising approach we’ve seen to date. Quandela recently reached a new milestone by becoming the first player to have made qubits available in the cloud and to have sold the first machine to an industrial company. We are proud to support this world-renowned team in this phase of internationalization and industrialization.”
Floriane de Maupeou, Senior Associate, Serena.

About Quandela

Quandela, entreprise leader dans le domaine du calcul quantique, propose des solutions de niveau industriel. Quandela conçoit, construit et fournit des systèmes quantiques prêts à l’emploi pour les datacenters, des processeurs quantiques accessibles via le cloud, et des services d’accès aux algorithmes.
Fondée en 2017 par la professeure Pascale Senellart, directrice de recherche au Centre de nanosciences et nanotechnologies (C2N) du CNRS, Niccolo Somaschi et Valérian Giesz, experts de renommée internationale en physique quantique, Quandela emploie plus de 100 collaborateurs de 20 nationalités différentes, en majorité des chercheurs et des ingénieurs en optique, algorithmes et sciences de l’information.
Quandela s’engage à rendre l’informatique quantique accessible à tous pour relever les défis industriels et sociétaux les plus complexes.
Pour en savoir plus : www.quandela.com

GB
Quandela, a leader in quantum computing, specializes in industry-grade quantum computing solutions. Quandela designs, builds, and supplies datacenter-ready quantum computing systems, cloud-accessible quantum processors, and algorithm with industrial value.
Founded in 2017 by Professor Pascale Senellart, Research Director at the Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies (C2N) at CNRS, Niccolo Somaschi and Valerian Giesz, internationally renowned experts in quantum physics, Quandela currently has over 100 employees from 20 different nationalities, mostly researchers and engineers in optical, algorithm and data science.
Quandela is committed to making advanced quantum computing accessible and beneficial for all, empowering innovators to solve the most complex industrial and societal challenges.

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[VIVATECH] AdvanThink and Quandela demonstrate the ability to integrate Quantum Artificial Intelligence into proven payment fraud detection models  

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Paris – Saclay, June 17, 2025 

AdvanThink, Europe’s leading expert in real-time payment fraud detection, and Quandela, a leader in quantum computing, have established a strategic partnership aimed at transforming the future of payment fraud prevention.  

The Promise: By leveraging the complementary strengths of AI and quantum computing, the two companies aim to develop high-performance fraud detection models designed for real-world deployment. These systems will be capable of identifying payment fraud faster and with greater accuracy than existing solutions.

Detecting payment fraud in real time remains one of today’s most significant technological, operational, and strategic challenges. In response to constantly evolving fraud techniques, AdvanThink has spent 35 years building strategic tools powered by artificial intelligence that continuously learn and adapt to emerging threats. In this ongoing race to improve performance, artificial intelligence has become an essential tool, capable of detecting subtle warning signs across large volumes of data with unprecedented precision and speed. 

Future requirements will be even more demanding. Fraud detection models will need to be faster, more accurate, more energy-efficient, and more resilient against increasingly sophisticated attacks. It is within this context that AdvanThink and Quandela have joined forces to explore the potential of quantum computing and push the boundaries of state-of-the-art fraud detection. 

The first phase of this partnership will focus on developing a proof of concept that demonstrates the value of integrating quantum machine learning algorithms into AdvanThink’s industrial pipelines.

“For 35 years, AdvanThink has placed technological innovation at the heart of its development strategy. Quantum AI holds a significant promise when it comes to fraud detection. It serves as a powerful catalyst for innovation in building the secure payment solutions of tomorrow – and financial institutions need to begin acknowledging this transformation today. We have already successfully integrated Quandela’s technology into an AdvanThink pipeline, meeting all the requirements of an industrial-grade system ready for deployment. This first demonstrator holds great potential for experts in fraud detection,” says Brice Perdrix, CEO of AdvanThink.

“Quandela has already developed a quantum machine learning model that enhances credit risk assessment. The algorithm also shows strong potential in payment fraud detection. Quandela’s partnership with AdvanThink facilitates the integration of this model into an industrial workflow and enables benchmarking against the best products on the market,” adds Niccolo Somaschi, co-founder and CEO of Quandela.

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MerLin Unveiled: The First Quantum Layer for Data Scientists, Optimized for NVIDIA Accelerated Computing 

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Launching at GTC Paris, MerLin democratizes quantum machine learning by integrating with classical AI tools—backed by GPU-accelerated performance 

Paris, France – June 11th – Today, Quandela announces MerLin, a groundbreaking quantum computing framework designed for and by AI data scientists. Set to debut at NVIDIA GTC Paris, MerLin redefines quantum machine learning (QML) with a GPU-first approach, enabling researchers to simulate and benchmark algorithms beyond the limits of today’s quantum hardware. 

Quantum Meets AI: A Collaborative Future 

MerLin positions itself as the “quantum layer for data scientists” – contrasting with other quantum machine learning tools that target quantum scientists. By abstracting quantum complexity into familiar workflows (e.g., PyTorch/scikit-learn integrations), MerLin empowers AI practitioners to prototype hybrid quantum-classical models in hours, not months. Early adopters – including teams from the Perceval Quest, and researchers from Mila, NYUAD’s QML Lab and Scaleway – are collaborating with us to leverage MerLin and bridge classical and quantum workflows. 

Quantum shouldn’t demand a PhD to use,” said Niccolo Somaschi, co-founder & CEO of Quandela. “MerLin gives data scientists a GPU-accelerated gateway to quantum advantage while ensuring their work remains compatible with real hardware today—and tomorrow. By integrating benchmarks and noise-aware validation, we’re addressing a critical gap: the lack of reproducible metrics in hybrid algorithm research.” 

Powerful simulation tools are essential to develop better algorithms and accelerate the path to broad quantum advantage”, said Sam Stanwyck, Group Product Manager for quantum computing at NVIDIA. “MerLin solves a critical ecosystem need by opening the door for the broader research community to develop with photonic quantum circuits.” 

Key Innovations 

  1. GPU-Optimized Simulators
  • Leveraging NVIDIA CUDA-Q, MerLin delivers high-performance simulation for photonic quantum circuits, enabling tests for hardware that doesn’t yet exist (e.g., 24+ qubit systems). 
  1. Benchmark-Driven Progress
  • MerLin establishes reproducible metrics for hybrid algorithms, addressing the “benchmarking gap” in QML research—where thousands of papers lack standardized comparisons. 
  • Integrated with Quandela Cloud, it enables immediate validation of GPU-optimized algorithms on real photonic hardware, studying noise impact and scalability. 
  • Targets pragmatic use cases like quantum-enhanced kNN, GANs, and variational algorithms—backed by hardware-aware compilation. 
  1. Photonic-First, Future-Proof
  • Designed for today’s photonic QPUs (e.g., Perceval-based systems) but architected to adapt to next-gen hardware. 
  • Features like dynamic circuit recompilation ensure code scalability across hardware generations. 

Who Uses MerLin? 

  • AI/ML Practitioners: Prototype quantum layers without rewriting classical pipelines. 
  • Quantum Researchers: Access photonic-specific tools (e.g., boson sampling) with GPU-accelerated simulation. 
  • Enterprises: Pilot hybrid quantum-AI workflows with clear ROI benchmarks. 

MerLin allowed us to adapt existing algorithms to a photonic-native format within a short timeframe. The platform offered useful comparative insights that contributed to our ongoing research and publication efforts”, said Dr. Louis Chen, an early user, Research Associate at the Quantum Centre of Imperial College London (Imperial QuEST) and participant in the most recent Perceval Quest.

Availability & Strategic Vision 

MerLin will be freely accessible to accelerate adoption, with enterprise tiers for advanced features. The roadmap includes: 

  • Q2 2025: Stable PyTorch/scikit-learn APIs. 
  • 2026+: Support for 24+ qubit photonic systems. 

Learn More: merlinquantum.ai 

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French-German cooperation advances Europe’s quantum computer Lucy

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WITTENSTEIN and Quandela underscore European innovative strength

Two leading technology companies from Germany and France are joining forces to help shape Europe’s future in quantum computing: attocube systems GmbH, a company of the WITTENSTEIN group and specialist in nanotechnology, and Quandela, a pioneer in photonic quantum computer technology. The companies have been working together on the development of the European quantum computer Lucy. Representatives of the owners, Management Board and senior management of the WITTENSTEIN group took advantage of a visit to Paris to meet with the Quandela team and assess the status of the joint project.

Lucy is no ordinary computer. It is based on light particles – known as photons – and belongs to a new generation of quantum computers that are opening up completely new possibilities in areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber security, and materials research. The quantum computer was commissioned by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) following a competitive tender process won by the Quandela-attocube consortium.

The collaboration between Quandela and attocube demonstrates how European companies can work together to achieve technological excellence. While Quandela is developing the photonic quantum platform, attocube is supplying high-precision cryogenic systems—technology that generates the extremely low temperatures required for quantum processes.

The visit to France focused on technical progress and system integration. The participants discussed how quantum and classical computers can be combined even more effectively in the future—for example, for hybrid applications in AI or complex simulations.

“Lucy is more than a technical project – she is a symbol of European innovation,” said Dr. Bertram Hoffmann, CEO of WITTENSTEIN SE. Niccolo Somaschi, co-founder and CEO of Quandela, added: “Lucy stands for technological excellence and for the common goal of making Europe a world leader in quantum computing.”

Lucy is scheduled to go into operation later this year. It will be based at the French supercomputer center CEA TGCC, where it will serve as the cornerstone of a sovereign European quantum ecosystem.