Paris-based C12, which is developing a carbon nanotube-based quantum computer, raised €18M led by Varsity, EIC, and Verve, after raising a ~€9M seed in 2021
Lucy Adams / Tech.eu :
Context & Ripple Effects
C12's €18M round extends a Paris quantum-hardware cluster that already includes PASQAL's €100M neutral-atom Series B and Alice&Bob's earlier €27M funding for fault-tolerant processor development. The companies are pursuing distinct hardware approaches, making C12's carbon-nanotube program another architecture being financed rather than a direct validation of any one technical path.
The round also shows that European backers are still funding early hardware development across the quantum stack, even as later rounds for French peers have become substantially larger, including Alice&Bob's €100M Series B.
First-order effects
- C12 gains €18M of development capital, following its approximately €9M 2021 seed, with Varsity, EIC and Verve now backing its carbon-nanotube quantum-computing effort.
- The financing gives C12 additional runway to advance its own hardware approach alongside better-funded Paris-based quantum competitors.
Second-order effects
- The round reinforces investor support for a portfolio of competing quantum architectures in France, rather than concentrating all local capital behind neutral atoms, cat qubits, or silicon-based systems.
- As C12 progresses, its ability to attract subsequent capital will be judged against peers that have raised larger rounds, increasing pressure to demonstrate architecture-specific milestones.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, quantum financing is likely to retain a two-tier structure: smaller rounds sustain technical experimentation while larger follow-ons concentrate around teams that can make a stronger scaling case.
- The broader market may increasingly fund enabling layers as well as processors, as illustrated by Quantum Machines' hardware-tools financing, because commercially useful systems require more than a single processor design.
The trend: Quantum investment is broadening across competing hardware architectures and supporting infrastructure, while capital increasingly differentiates between early technical bets and later-scale platforms.