Quandela was founded in 2017 near Paris (in Massy) by Valerian Giesz, Pascale Senellart and Niccolo Somaschi, spinning out of leading French research in quantum photonics. The company builds quantum computers that use single photons as qubits rather than the superconducting circuits favored by many competitors. Photonic approaches offer potential advantages in scalability, networking and operation at higher temperatures, which Quandela argues makes them a strong path toward practical, deployable quantum machines.
The company develops the full stack: high-quality single-photon sources, photonic quantum processors, and the software and cloud platform that lets customers run quantum algorithms on them. Quandela has delivered real hardware to demanding customers, including a 12-qubit photonic system delivered to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2025, with a roadmap to scale qubit counts further. It has also partnered with OVHcloud to offer its processors on a sovereign European cloud.
Quantum computing is widely seen as a long-term accelerator for hard computational problems, including optimization, chemistry simulation and certain machine-learning workloads, which is why a directory of AI-adjacent deep tech tracks the field closely. Quandela's emphasis on photonics, European sovereignty and actual delivered systems differentiates it in a crowded quantum landscape.
Quandela raised a 50 million euro Series B that was co-led by Serena and Credit Mutuel Innovation together with the European Innovation Council, with returning investors Bpifrance, Omnes Capital and Quantonation, supported further by the French government's France 2030 plan. Total funding stands at more than 107 million euros. As one of Europe's most advanced photonic quantum companies with real hardware in the field, Quandela represents the frontier of deep-tech computing on the continent.