France's Pasqal has gone public, raising $360 million and achieving a valuation approximately 100 times its revenue.

      Pasqal started trading on Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker PSQL, five months after revealing its plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company. According to Reuters, the stock price surged at its debut.

      The merger with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II was finalized on 27 August, just one day after it received shareholder approval, resulting in the company having approximately $360 million in cash. In euros, this equates to €309 million, which is more significant than the stock ticker itself.

      Initial estimates in the filings predicted around $500 million in gross proceeds. The final amount of $360 million is due to shareholder redemptions, which allow SPAC investors to opt out and reclaim their funds.

      Nonetheless, this amount ranks among the largest cash reserves held by any European quantum company to date. Throughout 2026, Europe's quantum sector raised approximately €1.05 billion, making Pasqal's balance sheet nearly a third of the continent's annual funding in this field.

      The valuation will attract considerable scrutiny. The deal was agreed upon in March with a pre-money valuation of $2 billion against projected 2025 revenues of €16.5 million, resulting in a multiple of around 100 times. The filings also acknowledged that true commercial success in quantum computing may not materialize.

      What the company possesses is operational hardware rather than just a plan. They have deployed seven neutral-atom quantum processing units, with three more in development, that support over 25 commercial and research applications across energy, financial services, and materials science.

      The strongest aspect of the prospectus is the customer list, which includes prominent names like Saudi Aramco, Crédit Agricole CIB, and LG Electronics. Notably, the Aramco machine is Saudi Arabia's first quantum computer.

      Two partnerships play a significant role in the presentation. Pasqal collaborates with Nvidia on classical computing and is part of the IBM Quantum Network, placing it within the key ecosystems that influence how quantum hardware is delivered to customers.

      Neutral-atom systems operate by trapping individual atoms in laser light arrays and manipulating them with additional lasers. This approach circumvents the extreme cooling requirements that superconducting qubits need, which helps explain its appeal.

      “Today is not a finish line; it is an acceleration point,” stated chief executive Wasiq Bokhari, who described the listing as a transition from foundational science to industrial-scale implementation.

      The funds will be utilized for enhancing manufacturing capabilities at the Palaiseau headquarters, developing fault tolerance, advancing the cloud and software platform, integrating with classical high-performance computing, and pursuing international growth. There are also plans for a dual listing on Euronext Paris.

      Neutral atoms have a scaling advantage that aligns with the underlying physics. Adding qubits involves incorporating traps into an array rather than designing and connecting more superconducting circuits. Pasqal achieved more than 1,000 atoms in a processor back in 2024.

      The board maintains the French focus that the company strategically emphasizes. Alain Aspect, who won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics and co-founded Pasqal, serves as chair in a non-executive role, and Bpifrance is represented by Nicolas Berdou.

      Beneath the symbolic gestures lies a stronger guarantee. France reserves the right to veto substantial non-French and non-EU investments, necessitating approval from the Ministry of the Economy, which is uncommon for a company listed on an American exchange.

      Preceding quantum firms that went public have often focused on narrative rather than financial metrics, experiencing significant volatility. Pasqal now enters this category with a revenue figure that many investors may see as negligible, focusing instead on the technological narrative as the key asset.

      Opting for Nasdaq over Paris was a choice based on the availability of capital rather than loyalty, which Bokhari has acknowledged. This decision mirrors that of several other European deep tech firms for similar reasons.

      France has invested heavily to reach this milestone, including a €500 million initiative supporting local quantum champions. Pasqal is the first of these to deal with a daily stock price.