PQShield develops post-quantum cryptography software and hardware, offering solutions intended to withstand future quantum-enabled attacks. The company offers a system-on-chip for hardware like smartcards and processors, a cryptographic SDK for mobile and server applications, and a toolkit for securing messaging services. Founded in Oxford by Dr. Ali El Kaafarani, PQShield works with industry partners and customers including AMD, Microchip Technologies, Collins Aerospace, Lattice Semiconductor, Sumitomo Electric, NTT Data and Mirise Technologies, and has worked with Nvidia. It also advises bodies such as the White House, European Parliament, the U.K. National Cyber Security Council and the World Economic Forum, and provides technology pro bono to the Signal Foundation. To meet industry demand and build hardware and related systems, the startup raised a further $37 million in a Series B and is using the funds to hire more talent and deepen customer and partner engagements. The company highlights its dense team of cryptographers and is preparing for imminent post-quantum standards from NIST; it has not disclosed a valuation for the round. PQShield builds "future-proof" post-quantum cryptographic products—software and hardware designed to secure data today and against future quantum threats. Its product formats include a system-on-chip for hardware like smartcards or processors, a cryptographic SDK for mobile and server apps, and a messaging toolkit for communications companies. The company works with governments, OEMs and private customers—Bosch is a disclosed customer—and contributes to standards development, including submissions to NIST. PQShield was spun out of research labs at Oxford and remains based in Oxford, and is staffed with numerous PhDs and researchers across the U.K., the U.S., France and the Netherlands. Financially, PQShield raised a $20M Series A to fund continued research, product development and hiring; it previously raised a $7M seed in 2020. The company plans to announce its first commercially available solutions and aims for its hardware and software offerings to work together or independently as customers require. PQShield develops cryptographic products designed to remain secure in a post‑quantum future, offering hardware and software solutions today that provide migration paths from current standards. For hardware it has designed a System on Chip (SoC) solution to be licensed to manufacturers; Bosch is named as its first OEM customer. For software it provides an SDK to secure messaging, protected by post‑quantum algorithms based on a Signal‑derived protocol. The company targets applications including messaging, keyless cars, connected IoT devices, cloud services, and sensitive systems used by financial and government entities. PQShield is a 2018 spin‑out from Oxford University and says it has the UK’s highest concentration of cryptography PhDs outside academia and classified agencies. It is also a contributor to the NIST process for new cryptographic standards and recently emerged from stealth after raising funding.

Total raised

$64M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jun 2024