Overview
Alice & Bob is a Paris-based quantum computing company developing a fundamentally different approach to building fault-tolerant quantum computers. The company’s core innovation is the “cat qubit” — a qubit architecture that inherently suppresses one of the two primary error types in quantum systems (bit flips), dramatically reducing the overhead required for quantum error correction. This architectural choice, derived from research at ENS Paris and Inria, positions Alice & Bob as one of the most scientifically distinctive quantum computing companies anywhere in the world.
Founded in 2020 by Théau Peronnin and Raphaël Lescanne, the company emerged directly from academic research in a pattern that France 2030 was explicitly designed to accelerate: deep scientific IP from French research institutions converted into commercial deep tech companies. Alice & Bob has raised over €30 million and operates from Paris with a team that combines theoretical quantum physics expertise with engineering execution capabilities. The company’s target application is fault-tolerant quantum computing — the Holy Grail of the field — and its cat qubit approach is considered by independent experts to be one of the most promising hardware paths to achieving it.
France 2030 Funding & Projects
Alice & Bob sits squarely within France 2030’s quantum computing investment axis. France committed €1.8 billion to quantum technology under France 2030 and the preceding Plan Quantique — one of the largest per-capita quantum investments in the world relative to GDP. This investment flows through multiple channels: the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) for research partnerships, Bpifrance for startup equity and debt financing, and the SGPI for coordination with European quantum programs.
Alice & Bob participates in France 2030’s quantum ecosystem through its research collaboration with Inria and ENS Paris, both designated France 2030 research poles, and through Bpifrance’s deeptech program which provided early-stage capital. The company is also part of France’s quantum national strategy (Stratégie nationale pour les technologies quantiques), which designates quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing as strategic priorities requiring sovereign French capability. Alice & Bob’s technical leadership in cat qubits makes it one of the highest-profile French quantum hardware startups within this national strategy.
Strategic Position
Alice & Bob operates in a global quantum hardware market populated by well-funded US companies (IBM, Google, IonQ, Rigetti, PsiQuantum), European competitors (IQM in Finland, Oxford Quantum Circuits in the UK), and Chinese national programs. The key differentiation in quantum hardware is the qubit architecture — superconducting (IBM, Google, Alice & Bob), trapped ion (IonQ, Honeywell/Quantinuum), photonic (PsiQuantum, Quandela), and neutral atom (Pasqal) represent competing technological bets, each with different scaling characteristics.
Alice & Bob’s cat qubit approach occupies a specific position: it is a superconducting qubit variant (compatible with existing cryogenic infrastructure and fabrication techniques) but with fundamentally different error properties. Cat qubits suppress bit-flip errors passively through their physical design, requiring active correction only for phase-flip errors. If this error asymmetry holds at scale, cat qubits could achieve fault-tolerant computing with dramatically fewer physical qubits than conventional superconducting approaches — a potential 10x to 100x advantage in hardware resource requirements.
Key Technology & Innovation
The cat qubit concept is named after Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment — the qubit exists in a superposition state that is topologically protected against certain errors. In Alice & Bob’s implementation, the cat qubit is a superconducting circuit where the quantum information is encoded in the amplitude of microwave photons rather than in the qubit’s energy levels. This encoding naturally prevents bit-flip errors while concentrating error mechanisms in the phase degree of freedom, which is more tractable to correct with conventional quantum error correction codes.
The company has demonstrated cat qubits operating at the sub-millikelvin temperatures required for superconducting quantum computing, and has published peer-reviewed results showing the expected error asymmetry. The next technical milestone is demonstrating logical qubit operation — combining multiple physical cat qubits into a single error-corrected logical qubit that can perform computations reliably enough for real applications. This milestone, expected in the 2026–2028 timeframe, would represent a major commercial validation of the cat qubit approach.
Leadership
Théau Peronnin serves as CEO, combining deep quantum physics expertise (PhD from ENS Paris under Zaki Leghtas, one of the cat qubit’s theoretical inventors) with entrepreneurial ambition to commercialize the research. Raphaël Lescanne, co-founder and CTO, leads hardware development. The scientific advisory board includes some of the world’s leading quantum error correction theorists, providing both technical validation and talent access.
Competitive Landscape
Among French quantum hardware companies, Alice & Bob competes with Pasqal (neutral atoms), Quandela (photonic qubits), and C12 Quantum Electronics (carbon nanotube qubits) — four distinct architectural approaches simultaneously supported by France 2030, reflecting the national strategy’s deliberate diversification across quantum hardware bets. This is analogous to the US model where DARPA and National Quantum Initiative fund multiple approaches simultaneously, acknowledging that the winning architecture is not yet deterministic.
Globally, Alice & Bob’s most direct competitor is Amazon Web Services’ Center for Quantum Networking, which has investigated cat qubit-like error correction approaches. IBM and Google are committed to conventional superconducting qubits; PsiQuantum to photonic qubits. If Alice & Bob demonstrates the cat qubit advantage at scale, it would have first-mover advantage in a segment that the largest quantum programs have not fully invested in.
Investor Perspective
Alice & Bob is at an early revenue stage, with primary value in its IP and technical team rather than commercial contracts. The quantum computing market is projected to reach $450 billion by 2040 — a projection that assumes the field succeeds in achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing. The probability-weighted value of Alice & Bob’s position depends critically on whether cat qubits prove advantaged at scale — a binary technical bet with multi-decade payoff horizon.
France 2030 support provides non-dilutive funding that extends the runway for this long-duration technical bet. For specialized deep tech and quantum computing investors, Alice & Bob represents one of the most technically distinctive quantum hardware investments in Europe — a high-conviction bet that a relatively small French team has identified a genuinely superior architectural path to fault-tolerant quantum computing.