Quantum News Nexus

BTQ Technologies, a Canadian company that mostly has been known for quantum-safe security, is expanding its horizons, announcing its acquisition of neutral-atom quantum computing firm Qperfect SA, a company in France that also offers quantum computing emulation and control products.

UPDATE: I had this story Monday, based on a press release that was due to be out yesterday morning, but there was a issue on BTQ’s end and the new was not formally released until this morning. Here is the final version of the press release, which discusses how the acquisition marks “a significant step toward building an integrated, end‑to‑end quantum technology platform that unites cryptography, emulation, and fault‑tolerant quantum control under a single corporate structure.”

The deal follows a partnership forged by the two companies last earlier this year, terms of which included BTQ making a €2 million (around $2.3 million) investment in QPerfect with an option to acquire the full firm, an option it is now exercising.

BTQ, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is not a company I’ve talked about, and have to admit I had not noticed much at all until it was uplisted from OTCQX trading to NASDAQ in late September (NASDAQ: BTQ. It continues to trade on the CBOE Canada and Frankfurt Stock Exchange–Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse in German, which is a fun language.) It seemed like just another of a growing throng of companies looking to make government, finance, and enterprise networks quantum-secure in a market that already seems like it is due for some kind of competitive shake-out. But, if I had looked a little closer at the time, I might have seen that BTQ had started building its case to become a vertically integrated quantum computing company through its earlier agreement with QPerfect, and this acquisition seals the firm’s strategy to become a full-stack provider post-quantum cryptography, emulation, and (eventually) fault-tolerant quantum computing.

The acquisition follows the recent announcement of an IPO via SPAC merger by fellow Canadian firm Xanadu, a deal which I said at the time positioned Xanadu to become the first publicly-traded, pure-play quantum computing firm based in Canada, but it appears, BTQ, with its expansion, is usurping that title.

It is not clear how much BTQ is paying for the entirety of QPerfect, but as of last spring the €2 million investment appeared to grant BTQ close to a 17% stake at a pre-money valuation of more than €10 million (close to $11.4 million). The acquisition is expected to close in January, subject to regulatory approval in France. 

QPerfect is located in the European Center for Quantum Science in Strasbourg, France. Its products of immediate interest to BTQ will be its MIMIQ emulator and Quantum Logical Unit control framework. MIMIQ is in active use “with leading quantum groups and enterprise customers across Europe, Asia, and North America,” including Quantinuum and QuEra Computing, according to the press release. 

The press release announcing the deal added that QPerfect also “maintains research and licensing agreements with institutional partners, such as CRS4 in Italy, and industrial partners, including Quobly in France, reinforcing commercial traction. As part of BTQ, this model will align with enterprise grade post-quantum security offerings so customers can adopt quantum-safe communications today while preparing for interoperable compute platforms tomorrow, creating a single roadmap that connects data protection, verification, and future compute capability.”

BTQ CEO Olivier Roussy Newton, said in a statement, “By acquiring QPerfect, BTQ transforms from a post-quantum cryptography company into a vertically integrated quantum technology leader. This acquisition aligns software and hardware capabilities under one vision, to deploy quantum-secure solutions at an industrial scale and accelerate the global transition to quantum-safe infrastructure. It not only strengthens our presence within the European quantum ecosystem but also reinforces BTQ’s with the highest standards of quantum technology.”

There has definitely been a move by North American quantum companies to strengthen their efforts in Europe, and particularly in Italy. IonQ and D-Wave both recently joined Q-Alliance there, and IonQ said in its earnings release last week that it has elevated Marco Pistoia, the former JPMorgan Chase quantum chief that IonQ hired this past summer, to the new post of CEO of IonQ Italia.

There is more to come from BTQ and QPerfect, as the combined entity said it plans to pursue a phased strategic roadmap designed to commercially deploy quantum‑secure applications. Specifically, this includes:

• Quantum Advantage and Industrialization: BTQ and QPerfect plan to demonstrate commercial quantum advantage using scalable neutral atom platforms. This will mark the industrialization phase for BTQ’s fault‑tolerant quantum computing systems, paving the way for practical post‑quantum cryptographic applications and quantum‑secure infrastructure commercialization.

• Quantum Logic Unit Prototype and One‑Shot Signature Blueprint: QPerfect has initiated development of a Quantum Logic Unit (QLU) prototype, an accelerator bridging high‑level quantum circuits with machine‑level error‑corrected code for neutral atom quantum processors. In parallel, the team is developing a blueprint for quantum one‑shot signatures, a post‑quantum cryptographic primitive designed for use on scalable quantum architectures.

• Hardware Integration and Fault‑Tolerant Demonstrations: BTQ and QPerfect aim to first demonstrate the QLU prototype with neutral atom hardware being built in Strasbourg. This phase will also advance quantum one‑shot signature testing on live hardware, bridging cryptography and physics in an applied environment.

Quantum News Nexus is a new site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.