<figure><img alt="Quantum Computing concept" sizes="(max-width: 730px) 100vw, (max-width: 1600px) 75vw, 1390px" src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1169873499.jpg?w=1390&crop=1" srcset="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1169873499.jpg?w=400&crop=1 400w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1169873499.jpg?w=730&crop=1 730w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1169873499.jpg?w=990&crop=1 990w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1169873499.jpg?w=1390&crop=1 1390w"></img></figure>
<a href="https://www.pasqal.com/">Pasqal</a>, a Paris-based quantum computing startup, today announced that it has raised a $100 million Series B funding round let by Singapore&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/index">Temasek</a>. In addition to Temasek, existing investors Quantonation, the Defense Innovation Fund, Daphni and Eni Next, as well as new investors European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Wa&rsquo;ed Ventures and Bpifrance (through its Large Venture Fund) also participated in this round.
What makes Pasqal, which was founded in early 2019, stand out in an increasingly crowded field of quantum computing startups is that the company is betting on neutral atoms quantum computing. This is a relatively new and potentially game-changing approach to building quantum processors. Instead of trapped ions (like IonQ) or superconducting quantum computers (like IBM), neutral atom quantum processors use lasers to hold atoms in place with what is essentially an optical tweezer.
As you can imagine, building the technology to hold a single atom &mdash; and only a single atom &mdash; in this trap created its own challenges, but that&rsquo;s mostly a solved problem now. The advantage here is that once you can do this with hundreds of atoms at the same time, you can create both a very dense matrix of qubits and one that, using holographic methods, you can reshuffle in 3D space as needed for a given algorithm. And all of this happens at room temperature. That almost makes these machines more akin to Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) than more traditional quantum processors. You can find a Pasqal&rsquo;s paper about this process with more details <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.12326.pdf">here</a> and it&rsquo;s also worth noting that Alain Aspect, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on quantum entanglement in 2022, is one of Pasqal&rsquo;s co-founders.
<figure><a href="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp"><img alt="" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp" srcset="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp 554w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp?resize=150,110 150w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp?resize=300,221 300w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/equipment_tile_ab249b5159.webp?resize=50,37 50w"></img></a><figcaption>Image Credits: Pasqal</figcaption></figure>
As Pasqal co-founder and CEO Georges-Olivier Reymond told me, the company has already demonstrated that it can control more than 300 atoms at a time. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very hard to have only one atom in a laser beam and to monitor it and to control it,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But once you achieve that, you can almost easily scale that and you can create arrays in any shape you want.&rdquo; He noted that the qubits are similar to ion-based qubits in terms of their coherence time and fidelity, yet this flexibility and ability to pack these atoms in a very dense array, with only a couple of microns between the qubits, could give this technology an advantage.
Reymond noted that with some of these basic capabilities now in place, the team is working on building the quantum control system so it can start implementing quantum algorithms. And while there are startups that focus on building quantum control hardware, none of them are optimized for neutral atoms, he noted, so the company decided to build its own system.
Clearly, the Pasqal team is quite optimistic about its system and Reymond believes that the team will be able to show its potential customers &ldquo;quantum business advantage&rdquo; in 2024. He believes that this will take a system with 200 to 300 qubits.
At this point, most researchers believe that we won&rsquo;t see the industry trend toward a single technology for solving every algorithm. Instead, different quantum technologies will find their sweet spots for solving different problems. For Pasqal, the team believes that its system will work especially well for graph-centric problems. &ldquo;There are a lot of computational challenges that you can reframe in the shape of a graph,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;What we can do with atoms, is we can represent the shape of this graph and embed the complexity of the algorithm in this geometry. In the end, instead of using thousands of quantum gates, just by implementing a couple of them, you can run your algorithm and then you are resilient to errors.&rdquo;
The company is currently working with the likes of Cr&eacute;dit Agricole CIB, BASF, BMW, Siemens, Airbus, Johnson &amp; Johnson and Thales to help them understand where its technology can solve their business needs.
&ldquo;We are very proud of this new milestone in PASQAL&rsquo;s development that will make the company a world leader,&rdquo; said Christophe Jurczak, managing partner at Quantonation. &ldquo;Quantonation has supported the company since its spin-off from Institut d&rsquo;Optique. It is the first scale-up within Quantonation&rsquo;s portfolio, and it truly illustrates the excellence of French research and the competitiveness of the French quantum ecosystem.&rdquo;

Georges-Olivier Reymond

Christophe Jurczak

PASQAL

Pasqal, a Paris-based quantum computing startup, today announced that it has raised a $100 million Series B funding round let by Singapore’s Temasek. In addition to Temasek, existing investors Quantonation, the Defense Innovation Fund, Daphni and Eni Next, as well as new investors European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Wa’ed Ventures and Bpifrance

Pasqal raises $100M to build a neutral atom-based quantum computer

Meta has acquired Play AI, a startup that uses AI to generate human-sounding voices.
A Meta spokesperson has confirmed the acquisition, according to Bloomberg, which also reports that an internal memo stated that the “entire PlayAI team” will be joining the company next week. (TechCrunch has also reached out to Meta for confirmation.)
Meta’s memo r

Meta acquires voice startup Play AI

Therapy chatbots powered by large language models may stigmatize users with mental health conditions and otherwise respond inappropriately or even dangerously, according to researchers at Stanford University.
While recent coverage in The New York Times and elsewhere has highlighted the role that ChatGPT may play in reinforcing delusional or conspir

Study warns of 'significant risks' in using AI therapy chatbots

The British Business Bank, owned by the UK government, is creating a £500 million (around $674 million) economic package to help support diverse and underrepresented fund managers and founders in the country.
Fifty million pounds will be set aside for female-led venture funds, which means the BBB has now committed at least £100 million (around $135

UK launches £500M package to support diverse, underrepresented investors and founders

OpenAI’s deal to acquire the viral AI coding startup Windsurf for $3 billion fell apart on Friday, according to The Verge.
In a shocking twist, Google DeepMind is now hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some of the startup’s top researchers. A Google spokesperson confirmed the hiring of Windsurf’s leaders in a statement to

Windsurf's CEO goes to Google; OpenAI's acquisition falls apart

Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board.
This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.
This week was a

The Week's 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Fintech Attracts Biggest Rounds While AI Holds Strong

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
Every day, billions of people trust digital systems to run everything from communication to commerce to critical infrastructure. But the global early warning system that alerts security teams to dangerous softwar

The Download: cybersecurity's shaky alert system, and mobile IVF

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
In case you missed my announcement last week, TechCrunch Mobility is moving to the Beehiiv publishing platform. The launch is scheduled for July 18. Beehiiv provides lots of cool featur

TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla enters its Grok era, and teens come for robotaxis

The most active global startup investors largely got busier in the second quarter of 2025, backing and leading more rounds and putting larger sums of capital into deals.
Overall, nine of the 10 most active venture investors did more deals in Q2 than in Q1, per Crunchbase data. Ditto for 80% of the top 10 lead investors by deal count, as well as the

Accel, General Catalyst Topped Increasingly Busy Active Investor Ranks In Q2

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27 to 29, bringing together 10,000+ startup and VC leaders for three days of bold ideas, groundbreaking tech, and future-shaping conversations. One of the most highly anticipated sessions happening on one of the two AI Stages will spotlight where AI hardware is heading next, fe

Humanoids, AVs, and what's next in AI hardware at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Every day, billions of people trust digital systems to run everything from communication to commerce to critical infrastructure. But the global early warning system that alerts security teams to dangerous software flaws is showing critical gaps in coverage—and most users have no idea their digital lives are likely becoming more vulnerable.
Over the

Cybersecurity's global alarm system is breaking down

U.K. authorities confirmed on Thursday they had arrested four individuals for allegedly carrying out a series of hacks earlier this year targeting the British retail sector, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods, and the Co-op.
The National Crime Agency said a woman aged 20, two men aged 19, and a youth aged 17 were arrested on Thursday at locations a

Authorities arrest four hackers linked to UK retail hacking spree

The new feature makes taking control of unruly newsletter subscriptions a breeze.
Google is rolling out a new feature for the web, Android and iOS that will make unsubscribing from email subscriptions easier than before -- which was already pretty easy. If you don't have the feature yet, you'll soon see a new section in Gmail's sidebar that will le

This New Gmail Feature Makes Managing Your Subscriptions Easier Than Ever

iCapital, a fintech platform for alternative investments and investors, has raised more than $820 million in a funding round that takes its valuation to over $7.5 billion, the company announced on Thursday.
That’s up from the just over $6 billion it was valued at in 2021 after raising $50 million in a round led by WestCap. Founded in 2013, New York

Alt Investment Platform iCapital Raises $820M At $7.5B Valuation With An Eye Toward Acquisitions

A new technique called LightShed will make it harder for artists to use existing protective tools to stop their work from being ingested for AI training. It’s the next step in a cat-and-mouse game—across technology, law, and culture—that has been going on between artists and AI proponents for years.
Generative AI models that create images need to b

This tool strips away anti-AI protections from digital art

Funding to Europe startups settled in Q2, coming in flat quarter over quarter, but down 24% from the peak second quarter in 2024, Crunchbase data shows.
A total of $12.6 billion was raised by around 1,200 startups across Europe last quarter, with funding amounts comparable with the previous two quarters.
And for the first time since 2012, Germany-b

Germany Leapfrogs UK To Lead European VC Investment In Q2 As Region's Funding Settles

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
The news: A new technique called LightShed will make it harder for artists to use existing protective tools to stop their work from being ingested for AI training. It’s the next step in a cat-and-mouse game—acros

The Download: flaws in anti-AI protections for art, and an AI regulation vibe shift

YouTube is preparing to update its policies to crack down on creators’ ability to generate revenue from “inauthentic” content, including mass-produced videos and other types of repetitive content — things that have become easier to generate with the help of AI technology.
On July 15, the company will update its YouTube Partner Program (YPP) Monetiz