- Cybersecurity startup Quantum Bridge has raised a $8 million Series A
- The round was led by Primo Capital SGR, and a global syndicate including Wayra (Telefónica), Cadenza VC, Club degli Investitori angels, HPE, and Bacchus Venture Capital also participated.
- The threat of quantum “is not theoretical and it is not a decade away,” co-founder Mattia Montagna tells Tech Funding News.
Cybersecurity startup Quantum Bridge has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Primo Capital SGR to create infrastructure that can protect against quantum threats.
Founded in 2019, the Toronto-based company uses a patented Distributed Symmetric Key Establishment (DSKE) protocol to reduce possible points of cybersecurity failures and strengthen cryptographic resilience.
It is the brainchild of Mattia Montagna and Hoi-Kwong Lo, who were both at the University of Toronto, at where the company’s core technology was originally developed. Lo is a top quantum cryptography and Montagna, a former financial stability expert at the European Central Bank, was interested in systemic vulnerabilities that are baked into the global system.
The funding comes amid increased emphasis on cybersecurity in the age of agentic AI and quantum computing, which are powerful tools that can both protect and break existing systems. It is also on the backdrop of individual nations’ push for sovereignty.
“The threat is not theoretical and it is not a decade away. Adversaries are already running Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attacks: intercepting and stockpiling encrypted traffic today so it can be unlocked the moment quantum hardware catches up,” Montagna tells Tech Funding News.
“Any data with a shelf life beyond Q-Day, financial records, sovereign communications, identity systems, is already exposed. Quantum Bridge exists to close that gap before the debt comes due.”
In traditional cryptography computers use a digital lock and key system to talk to each other. Symmetric keys mean that both the sender and the receiver use the same code as the lock and unlock. If a hacker doesn’t have that specific key, they can’t read the data, the company says.
Upgrading to quantum-grade software normally requires a complete overhaul of hardware and software, the startup says. Quantum Bridge, as the name suggests, sits on top of whatever technology its customers already use.
The company says it is working in commercial and institutional environments, targeting financial institutions, telecommunications networks, governments, defense sectors, and critical infrastructure operators. It sells its software under annual and multi-year enterprise licences.
Primo Capital sees the quantum technology landscape “as the cornerstone of digital resilience for the coming decade,” says Mara Attardi, an investor at the fund.
“Quantum Bridge immediately stood out for the versatility of its architecture, but it was the team that clinched our conviction. The CEO possesses that rare, dual-threat leadership: the deep academic rigor required to build cutting-edge tech and the commercial acumen to navigate the complexities of global institutional markets,” she says.
A global syndicate including Wayra (Telefónica), Cadenza VC, Club degli Investitori angels, HPE, and Bacchus Venture Capital also participated in the round.
The fresh capital will be used to scale, which includes building its European presence through a team in Italy. It will also be used for continued investment in research and development and sales in Canada. It brings the company’s total raised to $16 million.
The startup is also working with the National Research Council Canada (NRC) to advance new technologies that will be foundational for the growth of the quantum industry, such as photonic architecture and cluster-state generation.
“Our goal is to play a critical role in building the underlying infrastructure of the future quantum network,” Montagna says.
