Orange Quantum Systems just extended its seed round to €15M with backing from the EIC Fund and announced a chip testing partnership with Rigetti and other quantum hardware players.
This is not another quantum computing hype story. It's a signal about where deep tech money is actually landing — and who you should be pitching right now.
Enabling tech is where the cheques are going
Orange Quantum Systems builds testing infrastructure for quantum chips. They don't build the qubits. They build the tools that let other people build better qubits faster.
That distinction matters for anyone running outbound into the quantum ecosystem.
Venture investors and the EIC Fund are funding the layer between raw hardware research and commercial deployment. Chip testing, cryogenic control systems, error correction software, calibration tools — these are the categories getting funded because they reduce risk for the entire stack. The logic is straightforward: until you can reliably test a chip at scale, you cannot certify it for integration into a larger system. That certification bottleneck is where regulatory pressure meets technical necessity. As quantum hardware moves from lab prototypes to pre-commercial systems, procurement teams are demanding validated yield rates and reproducible performance metrics. Without standardized testing protocols, no buyer — whether a defense contractor or a cloud provider — can underwrite the risk of deploying untested hardware into their supply chain.
If you're selling to quantum startups, the buyers with budget are not the quantum algorithm researchers. They're the hardware engineers who need to validate chips before they ship. They're the operations teams scaling fabrication. They're the procurement leads at companies like Rigetti that need reliable testing partners. These buyers operate under tight qualification cycles and regulatory scrutiny from funding bodies like the EIC, which mandates milestone-based disbursements tied to measurable hardware progress. Your outreach should target the process pain points: calibration turnaround times, test repeatability, and compliance with emerging industry standards. The companies building the enabling layer are the ones with recurring revenue models and procurement authority — not the researchers chasing theoretical breakthroughs.
Three angles for your quantum supply chain outbound
We've been watching this space since the first EIC Fund quantum investments landed in 2023. Here's what's working for SDRs targeting this market.
1. Target the testing and validation layer. Orange Quantum Systems is not alone. Companies like Qblox (cryogenic control), QuantrolOx (automated tuning), and Zurich Instruments (measurement systems) are all raising and hiring. These companies need software, hardware components, and services to scale. Their procurement cycles are shorter than the big chip makers because they're still building their supply chains. This means they are actively evaluating vendors for calibration software, thermal management subsystems, and even basic ERP or inventory management tools. The regulatory pressure here is nascent but real: as these testbeds move toward certifying chips for commercial clients, they will need to demonstrate traceability and repeatability in their measurement processes. That opens a door for compliance workflow tools and audit-ready data logging platforms. If you can position your product as a way to standardize their validation pipeline before a customer like Rigetti demands it, you shorten your own sales cycle.
2. Look for the partnership announcements. When a startup announces a partnership with Rigetti, IQM, or Alice & Bob, that's a buying signal. It means they've passed technical validation and are moving toward commercial deployment. They now need CRM systems, testing software, compliance tools, and infrastructure to support those partnerships. But dig deeper: these partnerships often come with joint development agreements that impose specific data-sharing or IP segregation requirements. That creates an immediate need for secure collaboration platforms, version control for hardware designs, and contract management tools that can handle multi-party licensing. The SDR who can ask, "How are you managing the IP boundaries in your Rigetti partnership?" will get a meeting faster than the one pitching generic sales acceleration.
3. Watch the EIC Fund portfolio. The EIC Fund has backed over 50 deep tech companies in quantum and adjacent fields. Each investment comes with a public announcement that includes the company's focus area and often their hiring plans. That's a prospect list you can build in an afternoon. But the real insight is in the funding instrument itself: EIC grants and equity often come with milestone-based disbursements. When a company hits a technical milestone, they unlock the next tranche of capital. That milestone is a trigger for procurement. Monitor the EIC's project updates or the company's own press releases for phrases like "successfully demonstrated" or "completed phase one." Within 30 to 60 days of that announcement, the company will have new budget to spend on the tools and services needed for the next phase. Build your outreach calendar around those milestones, not arbitrary quarterly targets.
What doesn't work in quantum outbound
Generic cold emails about "transforming your quantum workflow" get deleted. These are PhD-heavy teams who have seen every buzzword pitch since 2019.
What works is specificity. Reference the exact funding round. Name the partnership. Ask about their testing throughput or calibration bottlenecks. Show you understand the difference between a superconducting qubit and a trapped ion system — or at minimum, show you know the difference matters.
One SDR we know sent 47 emails to quantum hardware companies using this approach. He referenced each company's most recent funding announcement and asked one question about their testing pipeline. He got replies from 11 of them. Three turned into qualified meetings.
The sample size is small. But the pattern is clear: domain-specific outbound beats generic tech outreach by a wide margin in deep tech.
The deeper issue is that most outbound fails because it treats quantum companies like SaaS startups. A quantum hardware firm like Orange Quantum Systems operates on fundamentally different timelines and decision-making structures. Their procurement cycles are tied to grant milestones, not quarterly budgets. Their gatekeepers are principal investigators and CTOs who evaluate vendors based on integration complexity with existing cryogenic infrastructure, not feature lists. A generic pitch about "scaling your operations" misses the fact that their bottleneck is often error-correction overhead or qubit coherence time — not sales pipeline velocity. Effective outreach must mirror the regulatory and funding reality: these companies are often navigating export controls on cryogenic equipment, compliance with national quantum strategies, and the slow cadence of academic-industrial partnerships. Asking about "testing throughput" only works if you also demonstrate awareness that their testing is constrained by cooldown cycles and measurement fidelity, not just headcount. The SDR who succeeded did not just name-drop the funding round; he framed his question around the specific technical challenge that round was raised to solve — in this case, chip-level validation at scale. That is the difference between noise and signal in deep tech outbound.
European quantum funding is accelerating
The EIC Fund's involvement matters because it signals institutional confidence. The EIC doesn't write cheques for science experiments. They fund companies with a path to commercial revenue.
Orange Quantum Systems extended their seed round rather than raising a Series A. That's unusual and worth noting. It suggests they're being deliberate about milestones before stepping up to the next valuation. For SDRs, that means the company is still in a buying phase — they're building infrastructure, not just maintaining it. This extension also reflects a broader trend in European deep tech: founders are using bridge rounds to de-risk hardware timelines before facing the scrutiny of later-stage VCs. The regulatory environment in the EU, particularly around export controls and critical technology classification, adds another layer of complexity. Companies like Orange must navigate dual-use regulations and national security reviews, which lengthen procurement cycles and increase the need for compliance software, legal services, and secure infrastructure. For sales teams, this means the buying process will involve more stakeholders — legal, compliance, and technical validation teams — not just the CTO. The EIC's stamp of approval also accelerates due diligence for future investors, compressing the time between funding rounds if milestones are hit. That creates a narrower window for outreach: once a Series A closes, procurement freezes for 60–90 days as new budgets are allocated.
Other European quantum startups with recent funding include:
- IQM Quantum Computers (Finland) — €128M Series B2 in 2024
- Alice & Bob (France) — €30M Series A in 2023
- Quandela (France) — €50M Series B in 2024
- Planqc (Germany) — €29M Series A in 2024
Each of these companies has a supply chain. Each needs software, hardware, and services to scale. Each is a prospect if you sell something relevant to their operations. But the regulatory friction in Europe means their procurement is slower and more structured than in North America. SDRs should expect longer sales cycles, more documentation requirements, and a higher need for proof-of-concept pilots before contracts close.
What we'd do next
Build a list of every European quantum startup that raised a round in the last 18 months. Cross-reference with the EIC Fund portfolio. Then look at their partnership announcements and job postings. The companies hiring for hardware engineers, procurement managers, and operations leads are the ones with budget to spend. But the real signal isn’t just the job title — it’s the timing. A startup that closes a €15M seed extension and simultaneously launches a chip testing partnership is entering a procurement cycle. That means they need test equipment vendors, cleanroom consumables suppliers, and possibly cryogenic infrastructure partners within the next two quarters. The EIC Fund’s involvement adds a layer of compliance: recipients must meet specific reporting milestones tied to technology readiness levels, which often forces them to accelerate vendor selection to hit those deliverables. Cross-reference the EIC portfolio with the European Quantum Flagship projects — any overlap signals a company that has both public validation and a contractual obligation to spend. The job postings for operations leads are the most telling; those roles are rarely posted unless the company has already secured a facility lease or a capital equipment budget. If you want to automate that prospect research and get it into your CRM without manual work, give MiraReach a try. We built it for exactly this kind of signal-driven outbound.
— Mira