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5 Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Encryption Companies

In a recent article, we talked about 10 startups that are working on various aspects of quantum computing and promised our lovely readers a follow-up article on 5 quantum cryptography and quantum encryption companies. We quickly realized we are out of our league when we couldn’t even define the word quantum so in our last article we defined everything quantum for you in simple terms. The key takeaway was that while today’s encryption methods can take millions of years to crack, this might change when quantum computing goes mainstream. Quantum cryptography promises to give us a far more secure method of encrypting messages, even one that might be impossible to hack just based on the rules of physics.

There is an incredible amount of funding going into computer security at the moment, and we recently profiled 9 hot cybersecurity startups, some of which are using artificial intelligence to identify security threats. We also put together a portfolio of 10 cybersecurity stocks that you can buy and trade just like a mini-ETF as seen below:

A portfolio of 10 Cybersecurity Stocks

With cybersecurity receiving a tremendous amount of investing for all sides, we’re not surprised to see at least 5 startups working on quantum cryptography. Here they are.

Qubitekk

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Founded in 2012, Qubitekk has taken in at least $2 million in funding (in additions to various grants) in order to develop a machine-to-machine communication device that can help protect critical infrastructure like electrical grids or oil pipelines. Their solution works as follows:

How Qubitekk's solution works

A key part of the above solution is the world’s first plug-and-play entangled photon generator, the QES. The technology permits both wired and wireless devices to authenticate messages using quantum phenomena. Qubitekk is also working on a photonic quantum computer. In late 2016, Qubitekk will release a scientific paper describing the company’s new approach to photonic qubits.

Quintessence labs

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Founded in 2006, Australian firm Quintessence labs has taken in an undisclosed amount of funding to develop an entire suite of quantum security products. In the world of computer programming, and particularly in cryptography, there are many ways to generate a random number. Present random number generation uses algorithms so that they are not “truly random”. Quintessence Labs has built a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) called qStream which can spew forth random numbers at a rate of 1 gigabit per second.

A Quantum Random Number Generator
In addition to qStream, Quintessence Labs also offers a key and policy management solution called qCrypt, a data protection solution called qProtect, and a cloud-hosted encryption solution called qSecure. The Company has partnered with some big names including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Gartner, and IBM. Their customers include the US government and military, IBM, NetDocuments, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and VMWare.  Just a few days ago, Quintessence announced a strategic partnership with PKWARE, the original company behind PKUNZIP (if you’re old school you’ll remember what that was). PKWARE’s Smartcrypt product will begin using random numbers generated by qStream devices.

Update 10/27/2021: QuintessenceLabs has raised $18 million in Series B Funding to expand its customer base globally. This brings the company’s total funding to $49.3 million to date.

Nano-Meta Technologies

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Founded in 2010 by a group of professors from Perdue University, Nano-Meta Technologies has taken in an undisclosed amount of funding to work on some pretty high tech projects. The Company lists at least three projects they are working on including an extremely dense method for storing digital data, a new nano-drug delivery method that uses Titanium Nitride, and a thermoelectric technology of sorts called thermophotovoltaics. One area of research quantum they are pursuing is that of nano-diamonds which can be used emit single photons for cryptography applications:

The principle of single-photon source operation visualization

We have no idea what that means except that with a single photon you can then use it to create encryption keys like we explained before. Our main impression of nano-meta technologies is that they are trying to move in many directions at once and at some point, they need to secure commercial partnerships that demonstrate that their ideas can be turned into viable products to be sold.

ID Quantique

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Founded in 2001, Geneva-based startup ID Quantique has taken in around $5.6 million in funding to develop an entire suite of quantum cryptography solutions that are divided into three areas. The first area is quantum random number generators (QRNGs) that can plug into a PCI slot or USB port. You would actually need 60 of these PCI QRNG devices to equal 1 of the qStream devices from Quintessence Labs we discussed earlier. The second business area of IDQ is photon counting hardware like the appliances seen below:

IDQ's hardware line

There are all kinds of applications that require devices that can count photons in addition to just quantum cryptography. The third part of IDQ’s business is in providing quantum-safe network encryption solutions for the protection of data in transit over computer networks. The Company has government, enterprise, and academic customers in more than 60 countries.

Post-Quantum

Click for company website

Founded in 2009, Post-Quantum has taken in almost $10.5 million in funding to develop an encryption system that cannot be hacked by quantum computers. The Company is currently offering four different products as seen in the below diagram:

Post-Quantum's product offerings

PQ Chat is a secure messaging app. PQ Share is a key-splitting technology that requires consensus approval to grant access to sensitive information. PQ Check is a biometric authentication tech that uses video selfies to create an audit trail for authentication and fraud deterrence purposes. PQ Guard is a patented file encryption solution based on their “Never The Same (NTS)” technology that is resistant to being hacked by a quantum computer. The Company’s customers include Barclays and the Government of the United Kingdom.

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  1. There’s another startup in the quantum arena called Whitewood. It incorporates technology licensed from the Quantum communications group at Los Alamos. Their first product is a quantum random number generator called the Entropy Engine that can go up to 350 Mbps from a single PCI card. They also have a product called netRandom that distributes entropy and random numbers over the network to virtual machines and IoT devices.

  2. CryptoMove sidesteps the quantum computing issue by protecting data with continuous movement, distribution, mutation, and re-encryption. If an attacker cannot identify data of interest, then they cannot mount any cryptographic attack, even with a quantum computer. CryptoMove is also algorithm agnostic, so it can incorporate post-quantum encryption algorithms as they are developed and adopted.

  3. As far as I can see the only public company in this QRNG space is Quantum Numbers Corp out of Montreal, Canada. They have just gone public and seem to have the clear competitive edge in secure communication being the only one to have commercialized their QNG2 product in chip size. Any thoughts on them?

    1. Hi Vince.

      A cursory look seems to tell us to stay far far away from a $8.2 million penny stock that appears to have recently been pumped. What is your relationship with the company if any?

    1. Hi Mike,

      You mean this one?

      http://finance.yahoo.com/news/quantum-numbers-corp-announces-next-142835480.html

      An OTC looking company saying they are releasing a product and “filing a patent”. We’ve never seen that before.

      I’ll tell you what we actually haven’t seen before. The phrase you used “morte di fame”:

      Italian word literally meaning “dying from starvation”, but it is actually used as an insult towards someone who would do anything for money.

      We’ve added that to our vocabulary!

      If you want us to do an exploratory article on Quantum Numbers Corp we’ll be happy to! Usually when we offer this free publicity, most OTC companies back off if they are not legitimate. The last thing you want IF you’re a pump-and-dump is Nanalyze writing about you.

  4. Jean Charles Phanuef starts as CEO this Monday. This man is well connected and brings a ton value to the company. Here is a piece from their website which I suggest people check out:

    Applications:
    To secure mobile & internet transactions, IoT communication, M2M connections, networking equipment, cloud based applications.

    Main Features

    Electronic integrated device with a very small footprint, of less than 20 microns x 20 microns.
    Demonstrated speed of 1 Gbps per device.
    If needed, devices can be used in parallel to increase the throughput.
    Very low power dissipation, typically <1mW
    Operating temperature -50°C to +85°C
    Easy integration in existing electronics (mobile and point of sales devices, USB, Internet of Things, computers and networking equipment).
    Cost effective compared to other QRNG technologies.
    Randomness has been certified by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Diehard tests.

    1. This isn’t a stock forum Matt. Our readers aren’t here for fake news. Please qualify this sentence:

      This man is well connected and brings a ton value to the company.

      What does that mean? Be specific please!

      We advise our readers not to touch OTC stocks with a 10-foot pole as 99.99% are scams. Here’s how you can identify garbage out there being peddled by criminals:

      https://nanalyze.com/2013/08/the-dangers-of-over-the-counter-otc-stocks/

      The fact that people are over here trying to peddle this issue should make everyone run the other way. You’re doing that company no service at all.

      1. Vous portez de grave accusations, avant d’émettre des commentaires aussi gratuit sans avoir fait une recherche sérieuse, cela pourrait nous laisser croire que vous êtes à la solde des sociétés que vous nous présentez.

        Je vous invite à valider chacune des affirmations ou commentaires que vous venez de faire sur QNC.. Car vous perdez beaucoup de crédibilité. Comparer le TSX Venture a OTC.. (Over The Counter) Traiter des administrateurs sans tache de criminels… Ainsi qu’un professeur renommé et son equipe d’une université crédible..

        Vraiment navrant de voir à quel point vous êtes ignorant et que vous croyez à tort que vous avez la vérité absolue sans aucune recherche sérieuse. De tels faussetées pourraient vous valoir une poursuite en diffamation considérant que vous laissez sous-entendre que vous êtes un analyste sérieux..

        En regard des commentaires que vous avez émit, permettez moi dans douter.. J’aurais pu écrire en anglais, mais comme vous êtes si prompt à tout savoir et connaître, vous aller sûrement le traduire en quelques secondes dans plusieurs langues..

  5. Just want change my nickname.. I don’t want your readers think its QNC managements or the company answered you..

    FYI, i read some bullboard comments on stockhouse site or other one…but i never post something.. I do my own DD.. Not on Anonymous comments …

    Hope you will do your own DD in future… Before you will answer or comment something on all companies..

    Regards

    1. No problem. We changed for you!

      We’ll add to our queue to take a closer look. A cursory look at their last financial filing shows ~65K in cash and lots of references to mining rights. So a shell company that used to be involved in mining is now entering the incredibly complex world of quantum cryptography with 65K in cash? And their company is now worth $11 million? Is that a fair statement to make here?

        1. Over 1M $$ with warrants exerciced… And no expensive expense other them management salaries and commercialisation..

          Don’t need to build usine or whatever… Its not there commercial strategy.. And why this company now has over 11M value.. Maybe because the timing quantum security his perfect, Bertrand Reulet and université de Sherbrooke are credible…

          And investors see a lot of potentiels… Why first investors put money in Facebook, Twitter or ……

          Another thing maybe help QNC…
          Maybe because this Shell (former Active growth Capital, ACK) didn’t spend big money in the past.. No management fee.. No expensive expense .. They was waiting the good opportunities.. And bought.. This one for less than 500k..

          So maybe Nanalyze will call M.Phaneuf in couples of weeks.. Time for him to put his business plan on the way.. He begun his new CEO job tomorrow.. Anyway always do your own DD serioulsily.

          1. Please keep this drivel to yourself. Any more posts like this will get deleted because this adds zero value to our readers. We’ll look to write about the company shortly and we will solely focused on their SEDAR filing which as we said before didn’t look very compelling.

  6. Nanalyze,

    With all due respect, your comment of “fake news” is ridiculous and I will tell you why. First and foremost I “commented” on an article that you posted I didn’t post any news at all. Secondly your dismissive nature calling it fake news without any DD shows the readers of this board the broad strokes you are willing to use on a company simply because you know nothing about them.

    If people are reading comments for news then your readers have other issues. If someone reads a comment and wants to look into something further they have a name which I provided to do their own DD instead of taking EITHER mine or your opinion on something and blindly invest or perhaps worse blindly dismiss.

    For those that want to look for themselves they will find the Canada First Research Fund is giving the University of Sherbrooke $35M for the development of quantum technologies so the $65k you mention is negligible at best. Further more they are looking at licensing deals not manufacturing. They will also see that Jean Charles Phanuef took his $2M in stock options at 30 cents which is higher than our average share trading at any given time since they announced their pursuit of QNG in November. I would say in my humble option that brings value. Here is a link to a quick bio read

    (Update 8/13/2018 – Link no longer works)

    You will see that he co founded and sold UForce to 8×8 which I am sure you are familiar with, Nasdaq Ticker EGHT. His connections from past and present endeavours speak volumes and that is the value I speak of.

    I came here to defend the company not do people’s homework for them.

    1. Hi Matt,

      Thank you for taking the time to write a very detailed response which shows you’re genuinely interested in engaging in dialog that benefits readers.

      Regarding “fake news”, we have been using that in an ironic way (given that the media won’t stop saying it) to mean any sort of “facts” that people throw around which don’t have substance. When you say “This man is well connected and brings a ton value to the company”, that statement adds no value and we asked you to elaborate on it. We see far too many people throwing around nomenclature like that in reference to pump-and-dump schemes and we WILL call people on that in the comments section.

      You said you are here to defend the company, and we’re certainly not attacking the company. We’re simply saying what we see. Just so we’re all on the same page, are you affiliated with them or just a concerned shareholder? We’re also here to defend our millions of readers who look to us for guidance on what land mines might exist out there for emerging technology investors. Our track record speaks for itself.

      Yes you are absolutely right about people needing to do their own dd. We’ll look to write an article on this company soon so stay tuned for that! We’ll also talk about one other Australian publicly traded stock in the space.

      1. Thank you for the reply. I got a bit defensive and missed the current events connection of the fake news comment. All good.

        I have no affiliation with the company other than my (probably) overweight share count.

        Speaking for my fellow forum members on QNC, we would love to read an article from you on Quantum Numbers Corporation as well as the Australian company you mention as we are familiar with them as well as the Switzerland and Italian companies in this space. We feel we have a tremendous edge and we would be very happy to read an unbiased report from anywhere as with our current media/Investor relations have been basically nonexistent.

        Thank you for the conversation and the opportunity to comment and expand on the thoughts here.

        Any idea when we should look out for the article? I think you will have much more compelling things to write about this company in the coming weeks as we all expect to have much more information accessible with a business man at the helm instead of a scientist.

        Thank again,

        1. Thank you for the comment Matt and clarification on being a shareholder with a meaningful position!

          We’ll hope to get that article out by middle of next week.

          For publicly traded names, we have QNC, the Australian company, any others you know of? Any publicly traded company on any exchange relating to quantum we’d like to cover.

          Thank you!

    1. Please note that we will be deleting any additional posts like this. Comments about QNC that add value should be posted over at the coming article describing this mining company turned quantum cryptography company.