C12 funding news – France-based C12 Secures €18Million in Second Round Funding

C12's research and development efforts to produce the first high-fidelity quantum operation on two separated spin qubits linked by a communication bus will be expedited thanks to the current funding round.

Additionally, C12 has been chosen for the Proqcima programme, which the French Secretary General for Investment and the Ministry of the Armed Forces will start in March 2024. By 2032, it hopes to have two universal quantum computer prototypes built in France.

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Along with previous investors 360 Capital, Bpifrance through its Digital Venture fund, and BNP Paribas Développement, it brings together prominent investors Varsity Capital, EIC Fund, and Verve Ventures.

Matthieu Desjardins, CTO and co-founder of C12, commented: "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.”

Didier Valet, Founding Partner at Varsity, commented: “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 quantum space.”

Pierre Desjardins, CEO and cofounder at C12, said: “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 startup, which raised $10 million in 2021, proved by theoretical and empirical means that all forms of noise that degrade the qubit's quality are eliminated by its architecture, which is the closest realisation of a single spin in vacuum.

The Quantum Fab, a unique first production line for quantum processors located in the centre of Paris, was inaugurated by the firm at the end of October 2023. This pilot line, which has multiple manufacturing workshops and a cleanroom for semiconductor chips, will allow C12 to manufacture its first quantum products.

Nader Sabbaghian, Partner at 360 Capital said, "Much like silicon laid the foundation for modern digital computing in the 1950s, we believe carbon holds the key to unleashing the extraordinary potential of quantum computing. We are immensely proud of C12's pioneering achievements to date and are committed to support their efforts to turn quantum computing into a tangible reality."

Clémentine Cazenave, Senior Investor at Bpifrance said, “We are delighted to renew our support for C12, a company whose potential we are convinced of. Since we first invested in 2021, this startup has continuously enhanced its value proposition, unveiling last October their Quantum Fab, the first production line for quantum processors in central Paris. This round of new investors will enable it to accelerate its development”.

About C12

C12 is creating dependable quantum computing systems. Matthieu and Pierre Desjardins, twin brothers, founded the business as a spin-off from ENS in January 2020 with the goal of accelerating the advancement of the lab's exciting new quantum technology.

Their lives might be changed by quantum computing. But the viability of the device is limited by frequent faults. They are addressing the core problem, which is the hardware's inherent nature.