Pasqal plans quantitative expansion of $2 billion SPAC listing, promises to ‘stay French’

middle Investors’ ever-present appetite for all things quantumanother European company in this field exiting the private markets. Just two weeks after the Finnish Quantum IQM He said it will be released to the public By merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), its French competitor Pascal He does the same thing.

accompanied separately A $200 million private financing roundPasqal’s SPAC deal will see it merge with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp II and subsequently list on the Nasdaq. The merger values ​​Pascal at $2 billion, up front.

Bleichroeder is backed by Michel Combes, a French telecoms veteran who previously headed Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent, and Andrew Gundlach, an investment adviser.

Pascal is an integrated quantum computing company Confronting big technology companies. It generates tens of millions in annual revenue from selling hardware, software and cloud services to laboratories and industry partners.

The SPAC deal comes as Pascal’s North American counterparts, which have taken a similar path to the public markets, have seen… Its shares have soared in recent months. US markets offer companies like Pascal the kind of scale and revenue multiples that are hard to come by at home in Europe, not to mention the cash they need for the long journey to fully realize quantum computing’s potential.

But Pascal (like IQM) is planning a dual listing in the US and Europe. The Nasdaq is scheduled to go public this year, and the company is preparing to list on it Euronext Later in 2026 or 2027.

The dual list may be one way Pascal is trying to reassure his French supporters. French Public Investment Bank Bpifrance Major shareholderand will remain active at both Pasqal’s table and the company’s board of directors, according to a press release.

Pascal stressed that it expects to remain a French legal entity headquartered in Palisau, a suburb of Paris that is home to a cluster of academic institutions, as well as industrial research centers run by Pascal’s clients, energy giant EDF and defense company Thales. The quantum computing company also intends to appoint a “new non-executive chairman with French nationality” to its board of directors.

that Investor presentation From Bleichroeder notes that Combs will act as Pascal’s “lead independent director” after the deal is completed – although this appointment may not be entirely positively received in France.

In 2015, current French President Emmanuel Macron Publicly reprimanded Combs to step down as CEO of Alcatel-Lucent Nokia’s acquisition of the struggling Alcatel company has closed. Combs’ exit package proved so controversial that it ultimately was Reduced by half.

Combs’ subsequent steps have gone some way toward rehabilitating his reputation in French technology circles. After replacing Marcelo Claure As CEO of SprintHe headed SoftBank Group International, where he championed French startups such as Swail. But he left this position After only five months Amidst the wave of departures in 2022.

Pascal is no stranger to executive reshuffles. Buried in the advertisement is the fact that the company Former CEO Wathiq Bukhari is now its CEO. Loïc Henriet, who started as CTO, later moved to CTO The role of the co-CEO And then it was hers Sole CEOhe returned to the position of CTO again.

Reaffirming its commitment to France may bring more intangible benefits to Pascal as well. The company tells taxpayers its growth will create highly qualified jobs in the country, where it plans to employ 50 people over the next 18 months. Not being an American company in the current geopolitical climate also has a good chance of opening doors, as is the case with French AI lab Mistral AI. I found it.

But no company can survive for long without a good product. The race is tight in quantum computing as competing approaches to the technology hold just as much promise. For example, IQM is betting on superconducting qubits, while Pascal is following the path of the neutral atom championed by its co-founder, a Nobel laureate in physics. Alan Aspect.

This technical foundation will play a key role for Pasqal, which plans to continue investing heavily in R&D to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer by the end of the decade. Such advances will be essential to unlock applications in areas such as drug discovery, healthcare, and cybersecurity.

The SPAC deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, and Pascal expects an initial market capitalization of about $2.6 billion, giving the company cash to meet its goal of doubling production capacity within 24 months.

The $200 million private financing round saw investments from Parkway, Quanta Computer, LG Electronics and CMA CGM. The company’s backers include the European Innovation Council Fund, Series B lead investor TemasekSaudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Company and the Islamic Financial Supervision Institute.