June 20, 2024 at 06:58AM
UK-based post-quantum cryptography firm PQShield has secured $37 million in Series B funding, bringing the total investment to over $60 million. Led by Addition and with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General and Braavos Capital, and Oxford Science Enterprises, the funding will support its expansion of commercial operations. PQShield specializes in quantum-safe cryptography solutions and aims to deliver real-world, post-quantum hardware and software upgrades to more organizations as they move to comply with new global standards.
From the meeting notes, the UK-based post-quantum cryptography (PQC) company PQShield recently secured $37 million in Series B funding, led by Addition and with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General, Braavos Capital, and Oxford Science Enterprises. The funding brings the total investment in the company to over $60 million and will be used to expand commercial operations. PQShield, founded in 2018, focuses on quantum-safe cryptography solutions for hardware, software, and the cloud. Its solutions are utilized in various applications such as secure boot and device updates, hardware security modules, connected vehicles, and military-grade communication systems, with customers including AMD, Microchip Technologies, Collins Aerospace, Lattice Semiconductor, Sumitomo Electric, and NTT Data. The CEO and founder, Ali El Kaafarani, emphasized the company’s commitment to delivering security and privacy in an increasingly digital world. Notably, PQShield recently identified timing leaks in the ML-KEM (Kyber) post-quantum secure key-encapsulation mechanism reference implementation, which could potentially be exploited for side-channel attacks. Additionally, the meeting notes included related topics on post-quantum end-to-end encryption, quantum attack protection in HP Business PCs, beyond quantum computing, and the impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity.