eleQtron closes €57m Series A, one of Europe’s largest quantum-computing rounds

Trapped-ion quantum-computing scale-up eleQtron has raised €57m led by Schwarz Digits, the tech arm of Europe’s largest retail group. The financing structure tells you something about how European quantum is being funded.

Quantum computing has, for most of its commercial existence, been a category in which European labs do exceptional research and US and Asian companies do most of the venture funding. On Tuesday, the German trapped-ion quantum-computing scale-up eleQtron announced that it has closed a €57m Series A round, one of the largest of its kind in the European quantum sector. The round was led by Schwarz Digits, the technology arm of Schwarz Group, Europe’s largest retail conglomerate and the parent of Lidl and Kaufland.

It is a meaningful funding event for two related reasons. The first is the cap table itself: €57m at this stage is a serious commitment to a hardware-led quantum-computing thesis at a ...