Quantum computing will not replace supercomputers even in 2026, let alone reach industrial scale. Nonetheless, investor appetite for companies seeking elusive quantum advantages has grown, not abated.
Quantonation Ventures, a venture firm that invests in quantum and physics-based startups, has closed its oversubscribed second fund at 220 million euros, or about $260 million. This is more than double the size of its founding fund and comes with other signs that quantum winter is not yet here.
While some have warned that too much quantum hype and not enough real results would eventually lead to a collapse of the funds, the opposite has happened. Consider the prediction that quantum will eventually crack modern encryption. There is no clear timeline at the moment, but the government has joined the tech giants in the race.
In the years since Quantonation launched in 2018, the quantum technology sector has become less nascent, driven by technological breakthroughs and early demand from academic and industrial labs. As a result, Quantonation partner Will Zeng told TechCrunch that there has also been “a change in the types of investment opportunities available for the second fund.”
One example is what Zeng describes as a “pick and choose” opportunity with companies developing technologies that support the quantum industry. He cited the example of Dutch startup Qblox, a long-boosted company that was selling quantum control hardware and software to Quantonation portfolio companies before the VC firm co-led its Series A.
This growing ecosystem explains why backers are doubling down on Quantonation and why other dedicated quantum funds like QDNL and 55 North have emerged.
“VCs are recognizing that this is not an easy area to invest in at an early stage. The technology is very specific and complex, the market is often new, and so are the teams,” Zeng said.
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The company’s theme is to invest early to capture more value. But a handful of quantum companies have already gone public and their stock prices have soared in recent months. According to Bloomberg, some of this “quantum frenzy” is owned by Nvidia, whose CEO Jensen Huang declared in June 2025 that “quantum computing is reaching an inflection point.”
Despite the fact that quantum chips do not yet outperform classical computers except in purpose-built benchmarks, there is a growing consensus that real-world applications, from life sciences to new materials, are only a few years away. This is thanks in part to advances in error correction – the ability to correct mistakes that are prone to occur in quantum systems.
Google’s Willow chip was a landmark for error correction in 2024, but no architecture has emerged victorious yet, and smaller players are still in the race. Zeng noted that a surprising number of companies have participated in DARPA’s quantum benchmarking initiative. He also believes that beyond the excitement of the public markets, “there are more exciting technologies that are currently private.”
For Quantonation, these personal opportunities span a broader canvas than quantum chips. Fund 2 has already invested in 12 startups and has a target portfolio of about 25 that includes not only the software and industrial layers needed to make quantum advantages a reality, but also adjacent physics-based technologies such as photonics and lasers.
This expanded thesis is supported by existing and new investors. According to the company, key investors from the first vintage, including Singapore’s Vertex Holdings and Bpifrance’s Fonds National d’Amorçage 2, have returned for the second fund, with new limited partners including European Investment Fund, Grupo ACS, Novo Holdings, Planet First Partners and Toshiba.
Quantonation’s geographic scope is equally international. With dual headquarters in Paris and New York City, the company has not only supported French quantum companies including Pasqal and Quandela, but has also invested in Asia and North America and will continue to do so.
“In many of the areas we invest in, there is no clear local winner yet (…) and a lot of the research comes from multiple universities,” Zeng said.
