Quantum computing is coming around the corner, and that is driving activity among a wave of startups building tools to secure data against the powerful impact that quantum may have on malicious hacking. In the latest development, UK encryption startup Sitehop has bagged £7.5 million in Seed funding to ramp up production of its ultra-low-latency, quantum-resilient hardware – the kind of kit that could one day sit inside the encrypted networks of Britain’s armed forces and critical infrastructure.
The Sheffield-based firm’s funding round was led by Northern Gritstone, with backing from Amadeus Capital Partners, Mercia Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, and NPIF. The investment brings Sitehop’s total raised to £13.5 million and will be used to support the company’s international expansion.
“Sitehop is proving the critical need for future-proof encryption, demonstrated by our early customer traction globally,” said Melissa Chambers, the CEO of Sitehop who co-founded the company with CTO Ben Harper, in a statement. “As a Sheffield-founded company, this investment from Northern Gritstone supports our mission to grow and scale in the region and build world-leading sovereign encryption capability right here in the UK – meaning we can accelerate international expansion while keeping the UK at the forefront of world-class cybersecurity innovation.”
Chambers spoke on a panel about quantum encryption, and the pending threats around quantum computing, at last week’s Resilience Conference.
Sitehop’s funding comes as governments and defence contractors worldwide prepare for the so-called “quantum cliff” – the point at which sufficiently advanced quantum computers could render today’s public-key cryptography obsolete. By integrating encryption into programmable silicon rather than software, Sitehop aims to make the transition to quantum-safe algorithms smoother and faster once NIST-standardised schemes are adopted at scale.
There are a number of startups building tooling around of variety of approaches that anticipate that cliff. They include PQShield and Post-Quantum.
Founded in 2021, Sitehop develops field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based encryption appliances that deliver security at line speed, a notable advantage in environments where milliseconds matter. Traditional software encryption often adds latency and drains power; Sitehop claims its hardware implementation cuts energy use by up to 90% while handling data throughput well into the hundreds of gigabits per second.
The company’s flagship SAFE platform has already completed a proof-of-concept trial within BT’s Gemini test network, the telecom giant’s replica production environment used to validate next-generation infrastructure. Sitehop states that the same technology is now being deployed with a tier-one carrier operating across multiple countries. It has not named the customer.
For defence and national-security users, the appeal is obvious: encrypting sensitive traffic at hardware speed without choking bandwidth could help secure battlefield communications, satellite links, or command-and-control backhauls where latency and power efficiency are critical. Sitehop’s systems are also described as crypto-agile, allowing operators to switch between encryption algorithms, including future post-quantum schemes, without requiring hardware overhauls.
Duncan Johnson, chief executive of lead investor Northern Gritstone, which has also invested in passwordless encryption firm Cavero Quantum and FHE computing startup Optalysys, said the deal reflected the North of England’s growing deep-tech base.
“Sitehop is an example of the incredible innovation coming out of Sheffield’s innovation cluster, providing game-changing technology to support businesses in future-proofing their cybersecurity protection,” he said.
Beyond telecoms and defence, the company is targeting finance, data centre operators, and industrial control networks that need to secure vast volumes of data in motion. Its products are designed to be dropped into existing network topologies via standard interfaces, potentially easing integration into legacy infrastructure.
While Sitehop still has to prove its resilience against real-world attacks, its momentum is timely. The UK government’s Cyber Security Strategy and DSIT’s Quantum Mission both emphasise sovereign control of next-generation cryptography. A domestically developed encryption hardware stack aligns neatly with that goal, and may give the MoD and other public-sector buyers a homegrown alternative to US-made solutions.
This piece has been edited to correct the stage to Seed
