Audacia, leading French Growth Equity investor, and Gravitation, the Investment Fund of entrepreneur Charles Beigbeder, are launching Quantonation, a Venture Fund dedicated to deep tech startups with a focus on Quantum Technologies and Physics.

A first generation of Quantum Technologies is already used in our everyday life with applications as diverse as medical imaging, atomic clocks and GPS systems, lasers, transistors and semiconductor components. After years of R&D, properties such as quantum superposition and entanglement are starting to be harnessed and exploited in a second generation of Quantum Technologies, impacting many industrial sectors by exceeding “classical” devices in more ways than one. Quantum-enhanced applications include among others cybersecurity, pharmaceutics design, finance and manufacturing. Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are poised to be impacted by Quantum Technologies in a significant way.

With Quantonation we will make capital available for startups in the Deep Physics sector, including Quantum Technology startups but also more broadly teams and companies leveraging breakthroughs in science and engineering out of physics research labs that profoundly impact industries and people’s lives. Our very early-stage grants support R&D projects with a promising potential for applications and consequent spin-off companies, in association with laboratories we know well. Seed funding is available for entrepreneurs at the very beginning of their journey, once their early idea is matured and they are ready to start staffing and operations. Once companies show traction and are ready to scale, we participate to successive funding rounds to bring them to commercial success. We can also join early investors and founders at a post-seed stage.

Quantonation is led out of Paris, France and Palo Alto, California, by Christophe Jurczak. Holding a PhD in Quantum Physics, Christophe has held government and executive positions in energy and defense and has been resolutely committed from Silicon Valley to the emergence of quantum technologies with QC Ware, a leader in quantum computing software. Zoé Amblard, holding a PhD in Mathematics applied to Physics and working lately on quantum cryptography,is joining as Investment Principal. Quantonation will rely also on resources brought by Audacia and Gravitation, an extensive network of advisors and experts and a scientific committee which constitution is underway.

With Quantonation we create the first fund dedicated to “Deep Physics”. We encourage Innovators to be bold, to submit their ideas and we’ll help them create a great company.

Christophe Jurczak

The fund will invest about 20 million euros. Gravitation, the investment holding of Charles Beigbeder, is lead sponsor and contributes its R&D network, entrepreneurship and financial know how. Its  share will be supplemented by partner funds, family offices, corporate and institutional investors. A deal flow has been constituted in the fund’s preparation phase and investments in Europe and in the USA are already being considered.

We are launching Quantonation in a context of great interest for quantum physics and its concrete applications. For example the European Union kicked off a few months ago the first phase of the Flagship Program on Quantum Technologies, a 1 billion € investment to transform scientific excellence into technological opportunities. Many companies are already preparing for a quantum future, Quantonation will plant the seeds for the quantum industry.

Charles Beigbeder