Welinq, registered in Paris in 2022 and led by co-founder and chief executive Tom Darras, builds quantum memories from laser-trapped cold atoms, developed at Sorbonne University and CNRS, that can absorb, store and release single photons on demand, the building block for linking separate quantum processors into one larger machine. Its EIC Accelerator project, SQOUT, "Scaling-up quantum computers with quantum memory links", receives an EU contribution of €2,486,313 and runs from January 2025 to December 2026, according to CORDIS. In April 2024, weeks after the Accelerator cut-off, Welinq also announced a €2.5 million EIC Transition grant for its memory, according to Welinq.
The first-year report says the team optimised the memory for efficiency, fidelity and stability, integrated optics, electronics and control into a compact automated system, and wrote control software to synchronise two memories as a "quantum link"; validation with pilot partners on different processor types is to follow, according to CORDIS. In March 2025 Welinq launched a rack-mounted quantum memory with over 90% storage-and-retrieval efficiency, storage of up to 200 microseconds and no cryogenics, according to Welinq. In January 2026 it sold a QDrive memory to Slovakia's national quantum communication network, skQCI, and in February 2026 sold its first entangled photon pair source to a European institution.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Welinq SAS, SIREN 909 607 087, Paris
- Registered
- January 2022
- CEO
- Tom Darras, co-founder
- Products
- QDrive quantum memory, entangled photon source, araQne compiler
- Partners
- Pasqal, Quandela, QphoX, OVHcloud, NVIDIA CUDA-Q
- Workforce
- 10 to 19 employees, register band
- EIC funding
- Accelerator €2.49M grant; separate €2.5M EIC Transition
Where Welinq Stands Now
Welinq has built partnerships with quantum computer makers across technologies: Pasqal (neutral atoms), Quandela (photonics) and QphoX (superconducting links), and in June 2026 with the cloud provider OVHcloud on networked quantum computing architectures, according to its news page. It also offers araQne, a compiler for distributed quantum computing, now integrated with NVIDIA CUDA-Q. Its public accounts show losses of €313,225 in 2023 and €1.13 million in 2024 with no reported revenue, according to the INPI financial ratios. Its news page announces no equity round or EIC Fund investment.
"With this sale, we are not only demonstrating the viability of our technology, but also its strategic importance in building the quantum infrastructures of tomorrow."
Tom Darras, CEO and co-founder of Welinq, February 2026The Technology: Parking Photons in Cold Atoms
Today's quantum processors hold at most a few hundred qubits, and there is broad agreement that scaling needs many processors linked together, the EIC report says. Linking them requires storing and synchronising quantum states of light, which is what a quantum memory does. Welinq's memory traps atoms with lasers, operates at room temperature without cryogenics, and fits a standard 19-inch rack.
What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows
The project runs to December 2026, so it is too early to judge it. The integrated memory system and control software are built. The central deliverable, a working memory link between two processors validated with pilot partners, is described as forthcoming.
- Integrated memory systemDeliveredLaunched 2025.
- Link control softwareDevelopedProject report.
- Processor-link pilotsPendingForthcoming.
- First salesMadeQDrive, photon source.
The Money
Welinq holds two EIC grants for closely related work on its quantum memory, about €5 million together. The Accelerator award was blended finance; no EIC Fund investment has been announced.
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
How the EIC separated the scope of the Transition and Accelerator grants, whether the EIC Fund invested, which processors the pilots will link, and Welinq's revenue from its first sales are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC report describes networking processors as the consensus route to scale, and Welinq's partners include several of Europe's quantum hardware companies. Its first memory sale went into a EuroQCI national quantum network, a European infrastructure programme.
What the award promised
A quantum memory link to synchronise qubits across separate processors.
What the record shows
Memory productised and sold; processor links still to be demonstrated.
The Verdict
Products out, links next
Welinq has turned lab physics into sellable hardware. Linking two quantum computers is the next proof.
Welinq and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
