Quantonation’s double-sized second fund shows quantum still has believers

Quantum computing isn’t about to replace supercomputers in 2026, and it’s nowhere near broad industrial scale yet. Still, investor interest in the long chase for quantum advantage hasn’t faded — it’s strengthened.

Quantonation Ventures, a VC firm focused on quantum and other physics-based startups, has closed its second fund at €220 million (roughly $260 million) after exceeding its target. The raise is more than double the size of the firm’s first fund, and it arrives alongside other signs that talk of a quantum winter remains premature.

For years, sceptics have argued that quantum’s hype cycle — paired with too few concrete results — would eventually trigger a sharp funding pullback. Instead, capital has continued to flow. Consider the widely discussed scenario in which quantum machines could one day break modern encryption: there’s no firm timeline for when, or even if, that happens, and yet governments have joined Big Tech in pushing forward.

Since Quantonation launched in 2018, the quantum sector has become less embryonic, helped by technical progress and early demand from academic and industrial labs. That maturation is also changing what venture opportunities look like, Quantonation partner Will Zeng said, pointing to “a shift in the types of investment opportunities that are available” for the firm’s second fund.

One area Zeng highlighted is the “picks and shovels” layer — companies that build enabling tools and infrastructure to support the broader quantum ecosystem. He pointed to Dutch startup Qblox, a long-bootstrapped business selling quantum control hardware and software to Quantonation portfolio companies, which later co-led its Series A.

That expanding ecosystem also helps explain why limited partners are doubling down on Quantonation — and why other specialist quantum funds, including QDNL and 55 North, have emerged.

“VCs recognise that this is not an easy area to invest in at the early stage. The technology is very specific and complex, the markets are often new, and the teams as well,” Zeng said.

Quantonation’s core approach is to invest early, aiming to capture more value over time. But the landscape has been shifting: a small group of quantum companies has already reached the public markets, and their stock prices have jumped in recent months. Bloomberg has described the surge as a kind of “quantum frenzy,” fueled in part by Nvidia, after CEO Jensen Huang said in June 2025 that “quantum computing is reaching an inflexion point.”

Even though quantum chips still haven’t consistently beaten classical computers outside of narrow, purpose-built benchmarks, the view that practical applications are getting closer has been gaining traction — in areas ranging from life sciences to advanced materials. A key reason is progress in error correction, the set of techniques designed to reduce and repair the mistakes quantum systems are prone to.

Google’s Willow chip marked an important milestone in error correction in 2024, but the field still lacks a clear architectural winner, and smaller players remain competitive. Zeng noted that an unexpectedly large number of companies have joined DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. And he added that beyond the excitement in public markets, “there are more exciting technologies that are currently private.”

For Quantonation, those private opportunities go well beyond quantum processors alone. The second fund has already backed 12 startups and is targeting a portfolio of about 25 companies. The firm says the strategy spans not only the software and industrial layers needed to translate quantum advantage into reality, but also adjacent physics-based technologies such as photonics and lasers.

The broadened thesis is supported by both returning and first-time investors. Quantonation said major backers from its first fund — including Singapore’s Vertex Holdings and Bpifrance’s Fonds National d’Amorçage 2 — have committed again. New limited partners include the European Investment Fund, Grupo ACS, Novo Holdings, Planet First Partners, and Toshiba.

Quantonation’s reach is also global. With headquarters in both Paris and New York City, the firm has invested in French quantum companies such as Pasqal and Quandela, while also placing bets across Asia and North America — and it intends to keep doing so.

“In a lot of the areas we invest in, there’s not yet a clear regional winner, […] and a lot of the research has come from universities in many places,” Zeng said.