C12, a French quantum computing startup and spin-off from the Physics Laboratory of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, has raised €18 million in its second funding round. The round was led by Varsity Capital, with contributions from EIC Fund and Verve Ventures. The capital will fund R&D focused on achieving high-fidelity quantum operations between two distant spin qubits connected by a communication bus.
C12's distinguishing technology is its use of carbon nanotubes as the physical basis for qubits. The approach targets one of quantum computing's central problems: qubit quality. Carbon nanotube architecture minimises the noise sources that degrade qubit performance in competing designs. Since raising $10 million in 2021, the company has built both theoretical and experimental evidence that its approach is viable.
In October 2023, C12 opened the Quantum Fab, a production facility for quantum processors in central Paris. The facility includes a cleanroom for semiconductor chips and represents a step towards producing quantum processors at scale, rather than as one-off research artefacts.
Matthieu Desjardins, CTO, stated the near-term technical objective clearly. "Our goal is to demonstrate long-distance entanglement between 2 qubits. This entanglement is at the heart of the quantum leap that will one day allow us to compute in a few seconds what today takes several years. This long-distance 2Q gate is therefore a major step forward in quantum technology."
Pierre Desjardins, CEO and co-founder, described the company's position. "I am very happy to have prestigious investors on board to speed up our development. I am proud that C12 can count on an extraordinary team. Our ambition is the same as on day one: to become one of the quantum computing leaders of tomorrow."
The funding round also reflects France's broader positioning in the global quantum race. C12 has been selected for the Proqcima programme, launched in March 2024 by the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the French Secretary General for Investment. The programme aims to produce two French-designed prototypes of universal quantum computers by 2032.
Didier Valet, Founding Partner at Varsity, noted the strategic rationale. "We are proud at Varsity to lead the new C12 round with a clear objective to build a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer and to strengthen France's position as a leading force in the quantum space."