The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) Governing Board has officially approved Decision No. 31/2026, selecting 13 European quantum computing startups under the Quantum Grand Challenge call (HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-QGC-02). The selected companies receive Phase 1 Coordination and Support Action (CSA) funding as a preliminary milestone to establish technical proof-of-concepts, creating a direct pathway to unlock up to €30 million each in venture debt financing through the European Investment Bank (EIB) under Phase 2.
| [ EuroHPC JU Quantum Grand Challenge Main List Winners ] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Startup & Project Acronym | Country & Duration | Hardware Modality & Focus Area |
| • Alice & Bob (CAT-DRIVE) | • France (4 Months) | • Cat Qubits / Superconducting FTQC |
| • eleQtron (MAGICMAPPING) | • Germany (4 Months) | • Trapped-Ion Processing Units |
| • Equal 1 Laboratories (BLUE) | • Ireland (4 Months) | • Silicon-Spin CMOS QPU Acceleration |
| • Groove Quantum (MusIQ) | • Netherlands (4 Months) | • Quantum Software & Algorithms |
| • IQM (QC-Stride) | • Finland (4 Months) | • On-Premise Superconducting QPUs |
| • NVISION Imaging (QOSMOS) | • Germany (4 Months) | • Quantum Sensing & Hyperpolarization |
| • Planckian (SQALE) | • Italy (4 Months) | • Solid-State Quantum Battery / Architectures |
| • Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech (EuroQ-Stack) | • Spain (4 Months) | • Analog Superconducting QPU Stack |
| • Quandela (EUROSPOQC) | • France (4 Months) | • Photonic Quantum Processing |
| • QUDORA Technologies (NEQTAR) | • Germany (4 Months) | • Trapped-Ion Architecture Scaling |
| • QuiX Quantum (Quix) | • Netherlands (4 Months) | • Photonic Quantum Hardware |
| • QUOBLY (QRUX) | • France (4 Months) | • Silicon Spin-Qubit Integration |
| • Sparrow Quantum (EU-SCALE) | • Denmark (4 Months) | • Photonic Single-Photon Sources |
Gateway to InvestEU and EIB Venture Debt Financing
The call evaluated 27 eligible proposals submitted by European quantum hardware and software providers. While Phase 1 awards approximately €300,000 per project (~€3.87 million total cumulative EU contribution for the main list), selection serves as the administrative prerequisite for sovereign European industrial scaling:
- Phase 2 Capital Pipeline: Startups that complete Phase 1 technical and business milestones qualify to apply for up to €30 million in individual EIB Venture Debt financing from a dedicated €100 million InvestEU pool.
- Supercomputing Integration: Selected hardware modalities—spanning cat-state superconducting, silicon-spin CMOS, trapped-ion, photonic, and analog processors—will be integrated into EuroHPC supercomputing centers across Europe.
- STEP Seals & Individual Startup Roadmaps: Several selected startups published individual technical updates following their selection. Both QUDORA Technologies (NEQTAR) and Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech (EuroQ-Stack) received the European Commission’s STEP Seal (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) quality label for projects integrating trapped-ion microwave electronics and fluxonium QPU stacks into supercomputing infrastructure. Italian startup Planckian (SQALE) and Denmark’s Sparrow Quantum (EU-SCALE) also detailed plans for scaling solid-state hardware and single-photon sources across European HPC nodes.
- Reserve List Allocations: Secondary proposals placed on the official reserve list include C12 Quantum Electronics (CARBON-Q, France), neQxt GmbH (STAQ, Germany), and PASQAL (CONSTELLATION, France).
The selection reinforces the European Union’s strategy to maintain technological sovereignty in high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum acceleration under Regulation (EU) 2021/1173.
Review the official decision document on EuroHPC JU here and read individual project roadmap updates via QUDORA NEQTAR Integration here, Qilimanjaro EuroQ-Stack Deployment here, Planckian SQALE Architecture here, and Sparrow Quantum EU-SCALE Photonic Sources here.
August 26, 2026 (Updated September 23, 2026)