Dutch DeepTech startup OrangeQS raises €12 million for its quantum chip testing

Orange Quantum Systems, a Delft-based startup innovating the field of quantum chip testing, has closed an oversubscribed €12 million Seed round – allegedly the largest Seed investment round so far in the Netherlands’ quantum computing sector.

The round was led by Icecat Capital, supported by Cottonwood Technology Fund, QBeat Ventures, QDNL Participations, and InnovationQuarter Capital. Cottonwood and QDNL Participations backed the company’s pre-Seed round in 2023.

“We are excited to see such strong support from the investment community,” says Garrelt Alberts, CEO of OrangeQS. “This funding round not only validates the critical importance of our technology but also enables us to accelerate our product roadmap, delivering the testing solutions essential to the emerging quantum computing industry as it advances toward building powerful quantum computers that benefit society.”

Founded in 2020, Orange Quantum Systems develops advanced solutions for automated testing and characterisation of quantum chips, enabling the transition from lab-scale devices to industrial-grade quantum computers.

According to OrangeQS, the quantum computing is a rapidly developing field. As the chips that underpin many of these advances become more complex a significant challenge has emerged: the need for scalable, precise, and cost-effective quantum chip testing.

OrangeQS looks to meet these challenges with their comprehensive product suite designed to streamline quantum chip testing across the entire value chain. 

OrangeQS’s flagship test product OrangeQS MAX reportedly sets new industry benchmarks for high‑volume, standardised quantum‑chip testing. Europe’s leading quantum‑computer builder IQM will use the system in Espoo, Finland to accelerate quantum chip development.

OrangeQS FLEX offers customisable chip-testing solutions for academic and industrial R&D teams. It is being used, among others, by quantum research labs at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and the University of Napoli (Italy).

Additionally, R&D labs like the Advanced Quantum Testbed at Berkeley Lab (USA), Chalmers Next Labs (Sweden) and QuTech (The Netherlands) are testing OrangeQS Juice, an open-source operating system enabling users to seamlessly manage their complete quantum research setup within a single environment.

With the fresh funds, OrangeQS will invest the new €12 million in building faster test machines that check quantum chips in “days rather than weeks“. By removing this bottleneck, the company helps leading chip makers keep doubling the number of reliable quantum bits (“qubits”) every few years – setting the stage for a quantum equivalent of Moore’s Law.

Moore’s Law is the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, leading to an exponential increase in computing power while reducing relative cost. In the classical computing era, this trend drove decades of rapid technological advancement.

In the context of quantum computing, OrangeQS’s ambition to double the number of reliable qubits every few years draws a parallel to this principle – suggesting a future where quantum computers improve at a steady, predictable pace.

Achieving such growth depends heavily on innovations like those of OrangeQS, which aim to streamline and scale up the testing and validation of increasingly complex quantum chips.

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