Pasqal, a rising star in quantum computing from Europe, will list on the US stock market via a SPAC at a valuation of $2 billion. The company is expected to use the proceeds to advance its core quantum technologies and products, with the stock offering anticipated to be completed in the second half of this year.
According to Zhitong Finance APP, Pasqal Holding SAS, a European-based quantum computing startup and a global leader in the development of quantum systems, has agreed to merge with a blank check company from the U.S. stock market. In a statement, Pasqal noted that this significant transaction values Pasqal Holding SAS at approximately $2 billion pre-money equity valuation, allowing Pasqal to join the growing ranks of quantum computing startups opting for backdoor listings through U.S. listing vehicles (such as SPACs).
Although quantum computing remains in its early stages, the rapid technological breakthroughs and heightened investor interest are creating a synergy. The 'quantum computing boom' is shifting from scientific research narratives to a new phase of technology stock narratives involving financing, IPOs, and valuation expansion.
Recently, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund disclosed long-position operations involving purchases of shares in multiple quantum computing companies during the fourth quarter of 2025, including IonQ (IONQ.US), Rigetti (RGTI.US), and D-Wave Quantum (QBTS.US), three leading quantum concept stocks on the U.S. market. Among them, IonQ has the largest exposure. Additionally, IonQ's recently announced better-than-expected full-line results and future outlook have bolstered confidence. Google (GOOGL.US), the American tech giant, considers quantum computing one of its 'three engines' for long-term growth. Coupled with Finland’s IQM and Pasqal’s recent announcement of an IPO plan, the comprehensive acceleration of 'quantum computing industry financing and capitalization' is sending a strong signal, which may ignite a new wave of 'quantum computing super-boom' across global equity markets.
According to a statement, the French quantum computing startup Pasqal Holding SAS reached an agreement with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II (BBCQ.US), a blank check company listed on the U.S. stock market, which includes $200 million in convertible financing. The deal with this Nasdaq-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), initiated by Michel Combes and Andrew Gundlach, also includes up to $289 million in funding, depending on investors’ redemption scenarios.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, giving the company an initial market capitalization estimate of approximately $2.6 billion. The quantum computing startup plans to use the proceeds to advance its core quantum technologies and deliver preliminary commercial products.
Documents show that this convertible financing round was led by Inflection Point, an investment institution associated with the sponsor. Existing cornerstone investors of Pasqal, such as BPIfrance Large Venture, along with several other newly added institutional investors, were also deeply involved.
This Paris-based quantum computing startup, co-founded by 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Alain Aspect, is a full-stack quantum computing company offering cutting-edge quantum technology products in both hardware and software. In the hardware sector, where investors focus most, Pasqal concentrates on building quantum processing units (QPUs) using neutral atom (neutral atom / Rydberg) technology. Researchers indicate that this advanced technology holds excellent scalability potential and enables flexible arrangement of qubits (the basic unit of information in quantum computing, analogous to bits in classical computers).
Media reports from last month indicated that the company was in talks to raise €200 million (approximately $233 million) in a funding round, which would bring its pre-money valuation to over €1 billion.
As investors focusing on blank-check companies seem more willing to bet on early-stage emerging technology firms, Pasqal, alongside its quantum computing startup competitors (including IQM, Infleqtion Inc., and Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc.), has opted for a SPAC route to go public. The substantial upfront capital expenditure required to build quantum computers, coupled with the absence of short-term profitability prospects, forms the core rationale for some traditional investment institutions maintaining a cautious stance.
According to insiders, Quantinuum, backed by Honeywell International, plans to pursue a traditional initial public offering (IPO) on the U.S. stock market, with its fundraising potentially reaching an astonishing $1.5 billion.
Pasqal's board of directors is advised by Lazard Freres SAS, while Bleichroeder's business team was advised by Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the Wall Street financial giant, in this transaction.
The era of 'quantum supremacy' is drawing nearer.
As IonQ announces achieving 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity and IBM deploys its classical decoder for quantum error correction on commercial AMD FPGAs with nanosecond real-time response, the industry widely predicts that key quantum inflection points such as industrial-grade quantum advantage and 'quantum supremacy' are only three to five years away. The approach of this technological tipping point is transforming quantum computing from an academic topic into an urgent national security issue, especially as 'practical quantum advantage' is more likely to emerge within 2–5 years in the form of 'narrow scenarios + hybrid computing + verifiable benefits.'
Nicolò Demasi, CEO of IonQ, a global leader in quantum computing, recently stated that major breakthroughs and transformations in quantum computing are rapidly approaching, marking the imminent arrival of the so-called 'era of quantum supremacy.' As quantum hardware qubit counts and gate fidelities continue to improve, the concept of 'quantum supremacy,' mentioned by Demasi, marks an important threshold — where a quantum processor completes a well-defined task at speeds unattainable by classical supercomputers within a reasonable timeframe.
Quantum computing systems leverage properties of quantum mechanics, such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement, to provide a completely new computational paradigm, theoretically surpassing the capabilities of traditional binary computers in certain specific fields. According to a statement by Google on December 9, 2024, the Willow quantum chip demonstrated astonishing performance in benchmark tests, completing a 'standard benchmark computation' in less than five minutes, whereas traditional supercomputers would require 10–25 years to perform the same task.
Although quantum computing technology is still in its infancy, it is developing rapidly.
From the perspective of quantum physics and practical software-hardware engineering progress, the quantum computing sector remains in the nascent stage of transitioning 'from controllable experiments to scalable commercial engineering systems.' However, the pace of quantum advancements has significantly accelerated in the past year or two, particularly in the core areas of quantum error correction (QEC) and logical qubit operations. In other words, quantum computing is still far from entering a phase of large-scale industrial expansion like AI chips, but it has begun moving from 'successful single-point experiments' toward a phase where 'systematic engineering roadmaps are gradually becoming clearer.'
A typical sign of acceleration is that quantum physics research teams are no longer satisfied with 'storing a logical qubit for a longer time' but are advancing toward 'performing gate operations and entanglement on logical qubits.' For instance, experimental work published in Nature Physics in 2026 incorporates key operations like 'lattice surgery' — critical for fault-tolerant computation — into more verifiable authoritative experimental roadmaps. Concurrently, U.S. tech giant Google has been publicly discussing more flexible error-correction configurations such as 'dynamic surface codes,' all with the core aim of making quantum logic-level operations more reliable and scalable.
More precisely, the most 'hardcore' advancements in quantum physics over the past 12–18 months have shifted from 'creating more physical qubits' to 'making error correction truly functional.' Google’s results published in Nature are widely regarded as a key milestone: entering the 'below-threshold' region within the framework of surface codes — meaning that increasing the encoding scale can further reduce logical error rates. This demonstrates that the path to fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) has been physically validated, rather than remaining merely a theoretical promise.
The 'scientific curve' of quantum computing is transitioning from individual breakthroughs to systematic engineering, while the 'capital curve' is pricing in the vast growth prospects of this long-term track in advance. IonQ, a U.S.-based leader in quantum computing, recently reported Q4 2025 revenue of $61.9 million, representing a 429% year-over-year increase, significantly higher than market expectations of $40.4 million. Full-year revenue reached $130 million, up 202% year-over-year, making it the first quantum computing company to surpass $100 million in annual revenue. More notably, the company provided 2026 revenue guidance in the range of $225 million to $245 million, with a midpoint of approximately $235 million, far exceeding Wall Street’s consensus expectation of $191 million to $201 million.
The reason institutional funds, including Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, are favoring IonQ essentially lies in betting on two major trends. First, quantum computing may be entering a phase similar to the early stages of large AI models — securing funding and order expansions before engineering bottlenecks are gradually resolved. Second, IonQ, through its high revenue growth, acquisition strategies, and strong cash reserves, has temporarily gained stronger capital absorption capacity among 'pure-play quantum targets.' Therefore, IonQ’s financial report is not proof of quantum technology maturity but rather a milestone in the transition of the quantum industry from a scientific narrative to one of engineering and potential commercialization.
Frontier technologies like quantum computing are also a core focus of Wall Street's strategic capital led by JPMorgan. In October 2025, JPMorgan announced the 'Security and Resiliency Initiative'—a decade-long investment totaling $1.5 trillion aimed at 'promoting, financing, and investing' in critical industries tied to the U.S. economy and national security. The initiative prioritizes four key areas: core U.S. supply chains and advanced manufacturing (including critical minerals such as rare earths, pharmaceutical precursors, robotics, etc.), defense and aerospace, energy independence and diversified resilience, and cutting-edge and strategically vital technological trends (AI, nuclear fusion, cybersecurity, and quantum computing, among others).
Antoine Legault, a senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, a renowned Wall Street investment firm, stated that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund’s latest substantial investment in IonQ (IONQ.US), a global leader in quantum computing, could mark a landmark beginning of a super investment wave in quantum computing by the world’s largest active asset management institutions.
