Key Takeaways
- • McKinsey's 2026 Quantum Technology Monitor reports investment in quantum technology startups reached €11.15 billion ($12.6 billion) in 2025, 6.3 times the prior year.
- • Public sources (governments, sovereign wealth funds and universities) accounted for only 3% of that startup investment in 2025, down from roughly one-third in 2024.
- • The EU produces 22% of global quantum-computing publications and 17% of the top 10% most-cited papers, according to the MIT Quantum Index.
- • Marie Lepske, General Partner at Constructor Capital, argues that national research programmes build the ecosystem but do little to finance individual startups.
- • Founders should assess how any public programme is allocated and who can receive funds, rather than treating headline commitments as available company capital.
Summary
Investment in quantum technology startups rose sharply in 2025, reaching €11.15 billion ($12.6 billion), 6.3 times the level of a year earlier, according to McKinsey's 2026 Quantum Technology Monitor. The same data shows public sources supplied just 3% of that capital, compared with roughly one-third in 2024, a shift that underscores the gap between government quantum commitments and the equity financing that reaches company balance sheets.
In an opinion piece on EU-Startups, Marie Lepske, General Partner at Constructor Capital, distinguishes between money that builds the ecosystem and money that finances companies. Public programmes typically fund laboratories, university research, testbeds, training and shared infrastructure. These can strengthen the technology base without providing direct capital to startups, and a national commitment may improve conditions for building a company while financing very little of it.
Europe's research strength is substantial. Citing the MIT Quantum Index, the piece notes that the EU produces 22% of global quantum-computing publications and 17% of the top 10% most-cited papers, with the UK and Germany each accounting for 6% of the highly cited work. The same report counted 69 master's degrees worldwide with "quantum" in the title, including 12 in Germany and 10 in the UK.
Lepske argues that founders should examine how a programme is allocated before counting it as financing. Funding directed to national laboratories or universities differs from capital a founder can deploy directly. She also notes that venture and private equity remain important, while corporate and public-market capital have become significant parts of the sector's financing, and that founders need to identify which stages of their development plan are funded and which are not.
The piece concludes that research, training and infrastructure are genuine European advantages, but they do not remove the need to finance companies as they move toward commercial scale.
In an opinion piece on EU-Startups, Marie Lepske, General Partner at Constructor Capital, distinguishes between money that builds the ecosystem and money that finances companies. Public programmes typically fund laboratories, university research, testbeds, training and shared infrastructure. These can strengthen the technology base without providing direct capital to startups, and a national commitment may improve conditions for building a company while financing very little of it.
Europe's research strength is substantial. Citing the MIT Quantum Index, the piece notes that the EU produces 22% of global quantum-computing publications and 17% of the top 10% most-cited papers, with the UK and Germany each accounting for 6% of the highly cited work. The same report counted 69 master's degrees worldwide with "quantum" in the title, including 12 in Germany and 10 in the UK.
Lepske argues that founders should examine how a programme is allocated before counting it as financing. Funding directed to national laboratories or universities differs from capital a founder can deploy directly. She also notes that venture and private equity remain important, while corporate and public-market capital have become significant parts of the sector's financing, and that founders need to identify which stages of their development plan are funded and which are not.
The piece concludes that research, training and infrastructure are genuine European advantages, but they do not remove the need to finance companies as they move toward commercial scale.
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