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PSL: Bruno Rostand, as Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at PSL, can you give a quick overview of the deep technology start-ups created at PSL in recent years?

Bruno Rostand: These start-ups reflect PSL’s diversity and its wide-reaching research capacity. They are from all disciplines and cover all areas of application. One of the greatest success stories in recent years is of course Alice & Bob (which I would have mentioned even if Théau were not here, of course…), but there is also (discovery of therapeutic antibodies, from ESPCI-PSL), Depixus (genetic and epigenetic sequencing, from the Physics Department at ENS - PSL and Labex IPGG), (immuno-oncology, from Institut Curie), and (drug discovery in silico, from the Chemistry Department at ENS-PSL). We are also delighted to mention some more recent projects, which are less advanced in their development, but already promising, such as (plasma-catalytic biogas methanation, from Chimie Paris – PSL), (biogas liquefaction, from MINES Paris – PSL), (innovative epilepsy treatment, from the Collège de France), and Sharpeye (high-resolution ophthalmic imaging, from Institut Langevin/ESPCI-PSL). All these start-ups have taken advantage of the exceptional PSL environment, and are working with support from internationally recognized research teams; this is particularly evident in the case of Alice & Bob, as Théau can certainly confirm…

PSL: Théau Peronnin, you are the co-founder with Raphaël Lescanne of Alice & Bob, currently one of the most prominent French deep tech start-ups. Your initial prototype was developed at the ENS – PSL physics laboratory and you still maintain strong links with research laboratories here in Paris. Can you tell us about these relationships?

Théau Peronnin: Yes, we certainly have some strong connections, I would even go so far as to say that it’s impossible to imagine Alice & Bob without its scientific environment. It is made up of several teams and many leading researchers in the field: (researcher at MINES Paris – PSL, ENS – PSL and INRIA whose work is based at the ), Pierre Rouchon (lecturer at the ), and (researchers at INRIA, in the QUANTIC team), (ENS – Lyon), (CEA). Most are members of the Alice & Bob scientific board. We share students working on their CIFRE dissertations, joint research projects and above all a global vision of the quantum computer, which we hope to simplify at all costs.
This close connection stems from our history and also from the defining feature of Alice & Bob. The project grew out of our unique technology of Schrödinger’s cat quantum bits, the result of experimental work by Zaki Leghtas. Around this thesis and its results, a scientific group was created, which is still very active. Raphaël and I were PhD students in the group. Alice & Bob is, in a way, an offshoot of this. In recent years, projects in the US and the UK, for example in the field of new space, (1) have made it possible to apply a new technological framework for innovation, one where the private player is very much supported by public players in order to participate in a great strategic race.
In a very concrete way, Alice & Bob takes care of the group’s roadmap, bringing in capital and equipment. At the same time, the laboratories are exploring alternative research avenues in order to continue to simplify the technological roadmap. It’s a “win-win” policy. Our academic partners can carry out ever more complex experiments in a very competitive environment, and we can lead the entrepreneurial race by reducing the risk margin. This is how, last March, we were able to raise 27 million euros in funds for a world first: the development of a new superconducting quantum bit, designed inherently to correct one common error in quantum computing.

(1). Refers to recent developments in the space industry, including the emergence of technological innovations and the growing contribution of start-ups and other private players

PSL: Bruno Rostand, what are the main steps that accompany the transition from a discovery in the laboratory to the creation of a deep tech start-up?

Each case is unique, and we try to combine our support and financing tools on a case-by-case basis, matching the needs of the projects as closely as possible. However, if we were to outline a typical case, it would start with an invention disclosure by a research team, this invention then leads to the filing of a patent; PSL Valorisation, which files the patent, may then provide pre-maturation funding, so that a first proof of the technical and economic concept can be produced. The start-up will then be created, often within an incubator, and will negotiate with PSL Valorisation regarding patent transfer. These different steps may involve different intermediaries, and indeed Alice & Bob obtained pre-maturation funding from PSL, while negotiating an intellectual property transfer with the CNRS; similarly, some start-ups incubated at (ESPCI Paris – PSL) enter into licensing agreements with PSL, etc.
At the same time, the project is gradually taking shape, with a core team, a preliminary business model (i.e. which products or services will ultimately be sold and to whom?), and other important features concerning the development roadmap, the associated financing plan, the IP strategy, etc. These elements will be adapted at each stage as the business develops, but their gradual consolidation reinforces the credibility of the start-up, especially with investors who then contribute to successive rounds of funding (seed stage, series A, series B, etc.), as deep tech projects are by nature capital intensive.
PSL Valorisation supports projects in all these aspects of their development; through BPI France’s Intégration SIA call for proposals, we are creating an acceleration program (PSL Tech Accélération) to further strengthen this system. In addition, a funding chain has been set up for projects from PSL, which includes the PSL Tech Seed initiative, linked to BPI France’s French Tech Seed fund, and the PSL Innovation Fund, a deep tech seed fund for PSL projects, which is currently a shareholder in around twenty PSL start-ups, including…. Alice & Bob!

Innovation and entrepreneurship at PSL

Théau Peronnin: would also add that this involves a change of mindset, this is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. In the same way as becoming a good scientist means you have to take the time to gain a good general culture in your discipline, becoming an entrepreneur requires you to take the time to learn the culture of entrepreneurship. In my case, I did at least start to think about Alice & Bob.

PSL: Precisely, Alice & Bob was created in February 2020 and you have just raised the greatest amount of funding in the French quantum ecosystem. A staggering success, how do you account for this?

Théau Peronnin: I’d just like to qualify that statement, our funding is the largest at the present time, but there’s no knowing whether this will be the case for very long.
It’s also true that Alice & Bob was lucky to emerge in a very favorable climate. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that, in the innovation ecosystem, high-value creations (disruptive technological innovation) have to be sourced directly by the research laboratories. Even just a few years ago, we were looking more towards industrial iterations. There are three areas that illustrate this well: new space, fusion, and the race towards quantum computing. In less than ten years, quantum computing has gone from an academic curiosity (Nobel Prize for Serge Haroche and David Wineland) to a technological race to build quantum machines. Not only is the market huge, representing hundreds of billions of dollars, but the field is wide open, anyone can have a go, because no one has yet managed to build such a machine. So investors betting a few tens of millions is not absurd, quite the contrary.
As far as Alice & Bob is concerned, our trajectory has been similar to that of our US and UK competitors. But our unique feature is perhaps precisely the fact that we are fearless and able to brave this trajectory, motivated by the size of our target markets.
We have also benefitted from tremendous goodwill on the part of our laboratories, host structures and State bodies. For example, the CNRS very quickly brought capital to Alice & Bob, via CNRS Innovation; like the start-up C12, we were incubated in the ENS- PSL Physics Laboratory, and the funding offered by the BPI and the Plan Quantique [Editor’s Note: national interministerial project launched in January 2021] were also key.
This is also reflected in our fundraising projects. The first was started with the PSL Innovation Fund, via Elaia and the Breega Fund, raising 3 million euros, and the latest, which you mentioned, is awarded by Elaia, also BPI France, via its Digital Venture fund, and Supernova Invest.

  - Mines Paris – PSL

PSL: What links are there between these start-ups and the training and research missions of ������̳?

Bruno Rostand: it is customary to say (although this is a fairly recent custom…) that innovation is the 3rd mission of universities, the other two missions being teaching and research. In our opinion, it is certainly very important that our actions are able to strengthen the societal and economic impact of knowledge produced by universities, in particular through the creation of start-ups.
Deep tech start-ups often have an inherent link with research, since the disruptive innovations that they develop are the result of research at the frontiers of knowledge. Clearly, human resources are essential for the success of innovative projects, and thus raising the awareness of researchers, especially the youngest, talent spotting and training future project leaders are just some of our priorities. This is why PSL is developing new entrepreneurship programs, including the Master’s in Deep Tech Entrepreneurship run by MINES Paris – PSL (see box). More broadly, university centers or environments are the ideal meeting places for the different players in innovation: researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, companies, public bodies, all have their unique role to play within the environment.

Théau Peronnin: The emergence of new disciplines, and the technology courses in general that are currently running, mean that some very good talent needs to be trained up. For this, I believe that a scientific background is essential. When you know how to carry out experimental research, you have a talent for building something from scratch, you know how to seek out innovation wherever it may be hiding, i.e. in the sciences. I am convinced that there is a synergy in the hard sciences that works well with entrepreneurship.