NextFin News - In a decisive move that underscores the maturing landscape of deep technology, Quantonation Ventures announced on February 22, 2026, the final closing of its second investment vehicle, Quantonation II, at €220 million (approximately $260 million). The Paris and New York-based firm, which specializes in quantum and physics-based technologies, has more than doubled the size of its first fund, which launched in 2018. According to TechCrunch, the fund was oversubscribed, reflecting a significant appetite among institutional investors for high-stakes, high-reward frontier technologies even as the broader venture capital market remains selective.
The fund’s capital was sourced from a diverse group of returning and new limited partners, including Singapore’s Vertex Holdings, Bpifrance, the European Investment Fund, Novo Holdings, and Toshiba. This capital injection is intended to support roughly 25 startups across the globe, focusing on Series A and B rounds. Quantonation partner Will Zeng noted that the firm is targeting the "picks and shovels" of the quantum industry—companies providing the essential hardware and software infrastructure that enables quantum advantage—rather than just the headline-grabbing hardware manufacturers.
This expansion comes at a critical juncture for the industry. While the concept of a "quantum winter"—a period of cooling interest due to unmet technical milestones—has been a recurring fear among analysts, the current trajectory suggests the opposite. The successful raise by Quantonation, alongside the emergence of other dedicated funds like QDNL and 55 North, indicates that the sector is transitioning from academic curiosity to an industrial reality. This shift is driven by tangible technical progress in error correction and the increasing involvement of global tech giants. In mid-2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared that quantum computing had reached an "inflection point," a sentiment that has since catalyzed a surge in private and public market interest.
The strategic logic behind doubling the fund size lies in the broadening of the quantum thesis. Early quantum investments were almost exclusively focused on the race for "quantum supremacy"—the point where a quantum machine outperforms a classical one on any task. However, the current investment cycle is characterized by a more pragmatic approach. Investors are now looking at quantum sensing, which has immediate applications in medical imaging and autonomous navigation, and quantum-safe cryptography, which is becoming a national security priority under the current administration. U.S. President Trump has consistently emphasized the importance of American leadership in emerging technologies, and the global race for quantum-resistant standards has turned what was once a theoretical threat into a multi-billion dollar market opportunity.
Data from the past 24 months shows a marked increase in the valuation of "quantum-adjacent" companies. For instance, the Dutch startup Qblox, which provides control stacks for quantum computers, saw its valuation jump significantly after a Series A round co-led by Quantonation. This highlights a trend where the value is being captured not just by those building the processors, but by the entire supply chain. By focusing on these enabling technologies, Zeng and the team at Quantonation are hedging against the long timelines of full-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing while still participating in the sector's growth.
Furthermore, the geographic distribution of these investments reveals a shift in the global innovation map. While the United States remains a powerhouse, Europe has leveraged substantial government backing through programs like the Quantum Flagship to create a fertile ecosystem for spin-offs. Quantonation’s dual-presence in Paris and New York allows it to bridge these two markets, capturing deal flow from top-tier research institutions in both regions. The firm’s ability to attract capital from Asian giants like Vertex Holdings further suggests that the quantum race is truly global, with capital following the most promising intellectual property regardless of borders.
Looking ahead, the next 24 to 36 months will likely see the first wave of "quantum utility"—where quantum systems, while not yet perfect, provide superior value in specific industrial niches such as catalyst design for the chemical industry or portfolio optimization in high-frequency trading. The doubling of Quantonation’s fund is a bet that these milestones are within reach. As error correction techniques continue to improve, as demonstrated by Google’s Willow chip in late 2024, the barrier to commercial entry is lowering. For the broader financial market, this signifies that quantum is no longer a "ten-year-away" technology; it is a present-day industrial sector requiring sophisticated, specialized capital to scale.
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