PHOTO
Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures has invested in Paris-based quantum computer start-up PASQAL.
The venture capital firm, which oversees $200 million in assets, is one of the investors in PASQAL’s Series B round, which raised a total of $108 million. The recent fundraising was led by Singapore’s Temasek and participated in by the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and Bpifrance.
The French company will use the fresh capital to expand its global footprint. The firm has plans to open offices in the Middle East and Asia this year, in addition to growing its existing operations in Europe and North America, according to a statement on Tuesday.
“Investing in PASQAL is in line with our mission of backing cutting-edge technologies that could have pround impacts on the world,” Wa’ed Ventures said.
“We believe that PASQAL is well positioned to be a leader in the industry, driving the localisation of advanced technologies in the MENA region for decades to come.”
PASQAL’s technology was built upon the Nobel Prize-winning research of French physicist Alain Aspect, who is also the company’s co-founder.
“[The company] 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,” the statement said.
The company will also use the funding to accelerate plans to build a 1,000-qubit quantum computer in the short term and fault-tolerant architectures in the long term.
PASQAL’s Series B round was also participated in by existing investors Quantonation, Defense Innovation Fund, Daphni and Eni Next.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
