Orange Quantum Systems Secures €15 Million to Accelerate Commercial Chip Testing
Delft, Wednesday 22 April 2026
Backed by the European Innovation Council, this Delft-based firm is tackling a critical industry bottleneck, partnering with major players to pave the way for automated ‘dark quantum foundries’.
Scaling Up: The Financial and Strategic Mechanics
On 20 April 2026, Orange Quantum Systems (OrangeQS) officially announced the second closing of its seed funding round, reaching a total of €15 million [1]. This represents a capital increase of 25 per cent from its initial €12 million seed closure in the summer of 2025 [1]. The European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund played a pivotal role in this latest injection of capital, signalling strong institutional confidence in the company’s trajectory [1]. Concurrently, EIC Fund investor Zeina Chebli was appointed to the OrangeQS board of directors on the same day, ensuring tight strategic alignment between the startup and European deep tech objectives [1].
Overcoming the Quantum Bottleneck
As the quantum computing sector scales towards commercial production, the physical testing of quantum chips has emerged as a critical bottleneck [1]. To address this, OrangeQS is positioning its automated testing system, OrangeQS MAX, as a foundational tool for future manufacturing [1]. The company envisions a transition towards ‘dark quantum foundries’—highly automated, utility-grade production facilities that require minimal human intervention [1]. Garrelt Alberts, executive director of OrangeQS, noted that the system ‘already sets new industry benchmarks for high-volume, automated quantum chip testing,’ and emphasised that the new partnerships and EIC support will consolidate their leading position in this challenging sector [1].
A Broader European Push for High-Tech Systems
The €15 million investment in OrangeQS is part of a broader, continent-wide strategy to secure a sovereign supply chain for high-tech systems and materials (HTSM) and quantum computing hardware [GPT]. Because quantum computing and automated chip validation inherently possess dual-use capabilities—offering profound computational advantages for both civilian applications and secure, defence-related manufacturing—establishing domestic testing infrastructure is increasingly viewed as a matter of European strategic autonomy [GPT]. Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, stated that the backing reflects the fund’s ‘commitment to backing Europe’s most ambitious deep tech innovators’ [1]. This aligns with other recent European initiatives, such as the €3.2 million EIC Pathfinder Open grant awarded to the EQUSPACE consortium in January 2025 for silicon-based quantum technologies [2].