Pasqal, Eleven Ventures form Saudi quantum venture as $300M listing nears

Pasqal's joint venture with Eleven Ventures will deploy neutral-atom quantum systems across Saudi Arabia, making the Kingdom a regional hub for the technology as the French startup races toward a Nasdaq listing.

"Quantum today is where AI stood a few years ago, on the edge of changing everything," HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Bin Talal, founder of Eleven Ventures and chairman of Pasqal Arabia, said. "The difference is that this time, the Kingdom and the region are not watching from a distance, we are moving first."

The venture, announced Aug. 24 during Saudi Arabia's state visit to France, plans to deploy multiple quantum systems in the coming years and build local talent so quantum capability is developed within the Kingdom rather than accessed from abroad. Pasqal, founded in 2019, employs about 300 people and serves more than 25 clients and partners, including Saudi Aramco, LG Electronics, Crédit Agricole CIB, CMA CGM, OVHcloud, Thales, IBM and Sumitomo.

Pasqal is pursuing a Nasdaq listing through a merger with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: BBCQ), with shareholders voting Aug. 25. The company trades at an enterprise value-to-revenue ratio near 68, according to Seeking Alpha, pricing in rapid growth as quantum computing and AI converge into the infrastructure of the next decade.

The neutral-atom edge

Pasqal builds quantum computers using neutral atoms held in place by lasers, one of several qubit technologies competing for commercial dominance. Rivals include IBM's superconducting circuits, Google's Willow processor and IonQ's trapped-ion systems, alongside Rigetti Computing and D-Wave. The neutral-atom approach, rooted in Nobel Prize-winning research, scales to large arrays of qubits and suits optimization, simulation and AI workloads, the company said.

The joint venture gives Pasqal a direct commercial channel into a region where sovereign demand for high-performance computing is rising. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 program has made advanced computing a national priority, and the state visit saw officials tour Pasqal's headquarters and quantum computer production site near Paris.

What investors should watch

Pasqal's valuation leaves little room for error. The Seeking Alpha analysis flagged a low float after the merger, which could drive volatile trading, and noted the company lacks near-term revenue drivers compared with peers. Pasqal has not disclosed revenue figures for the venture or a deployment timeline beyond "the coming years."

The deal also deepens Franco-Saudi cooperation in advanced technology, a theme that could draw further investment into quantum startups across the region. For Pasqal, the venture is a test of whether sovereign demand can translate into commercial scale before the Nasdaq listing closes.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.