Deep Tech · VC Firm

Supernova Invest

CEA-affiliated French deep-tech specialist with two complementary French quantum hardware bets: Alice & Bob (superconducting cat qubits, co-led the 2022 Series A) and Quobly (silicon spin qubits, co-led the 2023 seed). Also backs deep-tech photonics (Scintil, Aledia), which are not quantum.

Active Paris, FranceFounded 2017

Investment thesis

Supernova Invest is a Paris-based deep-tech VC with ~€800M AUM, created in 2017 as a joint venture between Amundi (Crédit Agricole Group) and CEA Investissement, whose investment team and funds it took over; the CEA and Crédit Agricole remain shareholders, LPs and co-investors. Supernova Innovation 3 (€100M seed fund, final close January 2025) plus growth vehicles cover seed to growth. Cheques €1-10M.

Quantum exposure centers on two PROQCIMA selectees: Alice & Bob (cat qubits; co-led the €27M Series A in 2022 with Elaia and Bpifrance, returned in the €100M Series B in January 2025) and Quobly (silicon spin qubits from Grenoble; co-led the €19M seed in 2023 with Quantonation, Bpifrance and Innovacom). It also backs deep-tech photonics (Scintil, Aledia), which are not quantum.

Value-add via the CEA relationship: shareholder, research partner, IP licensor and deal-flow source, plus an operating-partner platform (IP and tech transfer, industrialization). Partner Etienne Moreau sits on the Alice & Bob board; Associate Partner Damien Bretegnier covers Quobly.

Differentiated as a VC structurally embedded in France's sovereign technology apparatus (the CEA), making it a near-automatic co-investor on French quantum hardware rounds.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. Deep tech projects without a defensible IP or scientific moat (typically rooted in CEA, CNRS or equivalent lab)
  2. Hardware plays without a clear industrialization partner or pilot line access (CEA-Leti, STMicro, Soitec ecosystem)
  3. Founders unwilling to base R&D in France/Europe or to leverage public co-funding (Bpifrance, France 2030, EIC)
  4. Pure-software quantum or quantum-as-a-service wrappers without proprietary hardware or algorithmic IP
  5. Markets too small or too far from industrial end-customers (energy, mobility, health, defense, semiconductors)

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
Alice&BobQuobly

Frequent co-investors