Crypta Labs has completed a GBP2.7 million (USD3.4m) funding round led by Bloc Ventures and includes GBP1,000,000 (USD1.3m) debt finance from Innovate UK.
Crypta Labs is a quantum cybersecurity company which develops IP, hardware and related software using the quantum properties of light to secure highly critical data and communication devices embedded in critical infrastructure for the aerospace, communication, medical, military, and transport sectors.
The investment will allow Crypta Labs to further the development of its Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) IP portfolio and to bring to market the first Quantum-enabled Hardware Security Module (QHSM) ensuring critical infrastructure remains secure in the post-quantum computing world, and to accelerate the roadmap towards a single chip QRNG.
The company first developed its QRNG technology for the UK MoD for robust applications requiring it to withstand extreme external influences such as vibration and temperature fluctuations. All factors which to date have challenged the design of quantum light based RNGs. One of its first commercial applications is for connected automotive applications in the Czech Republic, where Crypta Labs is deploying its Hardware Security Module (HSM) for PKI and PKCS11 infrastructure to meet the increased security requirements demanded of the ETSI 1.3.1 standards for EU C-Roads smart roads infrastructure.
Joining the board will be Denis Bidinost, former founder and CEO of NextG-Com (now part of ARM) and ex-director of ARM. NextG-Com is an expert cellular protocol stack technology development supplier of next generation IP products for LTE, Satellite and other wireless technologies customized for IoT solutions.
In addition, Bloc Ventures, an evergreen investment company founded by industry veterans from ARM Holdings and Vodafone, will have a board position adding its deep knowledge of the semi-conductor, computing and communications sectors to the Crypta Labs team.
Crypta Labs CEO, Joe HQ Luong, says: “We are delighted to announce Bloc Ventures as our first institutional investor and look forward to working together during our next stage of growth.
“The potential market for QRNG technology is unlimited given the need for portable, cost efficient, fast and robust hardware security for connected devices that does not currently exist in the market today. This requirement will only become more pronounced with the emergence of 5G and further proliferation of IoT connected devices – driven by what we call the need for quantum hardware security by default.”
David Leftley, CTO and co-founder at Bloc Ventures, says: “The threat of quantum computing to security is that it enables new areas of mathematics which will significantly weaken, if not make redundant, much of the security in use today. The weakness is the lack of truly random numbers with which to generate strong cryptographic keys. We see Crypta’s QRNG technology as fundamental to securing the data and communications networks of the future. We look forward to working with Joe and the team as Crypta Labs enters its next phase of growth as we accelerate the roadmap towards a single chip QRNG. Bloc is delighted to add Crypta Labs to its investments, and we look forward to collaborating with them to make their dreams a reality.”
Denis Bidinost, Non-Executive Director, says: “I am excited to be joining the board of the company at such an exciting time in its growth. At the same time as we increase the number of things being connected to the internet, we are also increasing the number of attack surfaces that cyber criminals can exploit. Whether it’s your car, the hospital or a nuclear power station, quantum enabled cybersecurity is the only way to ensure critical infrastructure and data is protected.”
