Quantum startup Quobly raises $133 million in funding round

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, June 3 (Reuters) - French quantum computing startup Quobly said on Wednesday it has raised €115 million ($133.72 million) in a funding round led by France's state-backed investment bank Bpifrance, chipmaker STMicroelectronics and Sealsq.

The funding follows a wave of public investment in quantum computing in the U.S. and Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron last month said France will invest €1 billion in quantum computing, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration announced $2 billion in funding for the technology.

Quantum computers can in theory solve problems in chemistry, biotechnology and cybersecurity that would take conventional machines thousands of years.

However, the current generation of quantum computers is less reliable and stable than those using conventional semiconductors, which have had more than half a century of iterative refinement.

Quobly aims to make cheap, reliable quantum machines with quantum chips that use modified transistors, the same devices that power conventional computers, adopting a similar approach used by other startups. 

"We benefit from the economy of scale of this industry," said Maud Vinet, CEO and co-founder of Quobly. "The cost of producing our chip leads us to design quantum computers that will be a 100 times cheaper than competing technologies."

Quobly is working closely with STMicroelectronics to manufacture its chips, with a team of about 15 people working inside the chipmaker.

Vinet said the company needs the consistent and repeatable results of a large chipmaker's factories.

"It requires the yield and the quality of fabrication of commercial fabs," Vinet said. "We needed an agreement with this commercial fab to exchange the learning of what it is that is needed to optimize the technology."

Quobly plans to allow cloud-based access to its first systems at its Grenoble, France headquarters later this year.

Also participating in the funding round were the European Innovation Council, Blast, Air Liquide Venture Capital and existing investor Innovacom.

($1 = 0.8600 euros)

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Sam Holmes)