Sheffield-based Sitehop successfully trials UK sovereign solution at BT’s flagship test facility
Sheffield 9 October: Sitehop, the startup building UK sovereign encryption to future-proof networks against quantum-powered cyber attacks, has raised an additional £7.5m led by Northern Gritstone, the leading deeptech investor in the North of England, bringing the total raised to £13.5m. Existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Manta Ray, Mercia Ventures and NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia as part of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), also joined the round.
As the scale and intensity of cyberattacks increase and the threat of quantum-enabled cyberattacks becomes more urgent, today’s encryption methods risk becoming obsolete. Traditional software-based encryption increases latency, slowing down data transfers and causing performance bottlenecks. Sitehop addresses this challenge with its SAFEseries™ system, which encrypts customer data in hardware rather than in software. This enables networks – in telecoms, financial services and critical infrastructure – to achieve ultra-low latency and quantum-resilient security while using only a tenth of the energy of conventional systems. Even in demanding network conditions like telecoms, Sitehop has proven that hardware can run high-speed encryption with near-zero impact on performance.
Sitehop was founded in Sheffield by Melissa Chambers (CEO), a serial entrepreneur in the telecom industry, and Ben Harper (CTO), one of the world’s leading Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and cryptography experts. The company is already working with BT and has completed a successful proof-of-concept trial at its Gemini test facility – a replica of BT’s live network and one of the most advanced telecoms testing grounds in Europe. Sitehop is the first external company granted access to the facility, which is usually reserved for internal development. The Sitehop solution is already live with a tier one carrier across five countries.
Melissa Chambers, Co-founder and CEO, Sitehop, said: “Sitehop is proving the critical need for future-proof encryption, demonstrated by our early customer traction globally. 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.”
Ben Harper, Co-founder and CTO, Sitehop, said: “Our mission has always been to deliver world-class security that is ultra-low latency, hardware-enforced, and resilient against future threats like quantum computing. Partnering with Northern Gritstone enables us to accelerate our mission while strengthening the UK’s sovereign capability in critical network security. Their ‘profit with purpose’ ethos resonates strongly with us, creating technology that not only drives global growth but also delivers lasting social and economic value.”
Active since May 2022, Northern Gritstone has made 40 investments in early-stage businesses in the North of England, expanded its investment team and built NG Innovation Services, its high-performance growth function offering.
Duncan Johnson, CEO, Northern Gritstone, said: “Our focus is always on ‘profit with purpose’, helping to support visionary companies with strong intellectual property to grow out of the North of England. Sitehop is an example of the incredible deep tech innovation coming out of Sheffield’s innovation cluster, providing game-changing technology to support businesses in future-proofing their cybersecurity protection. We’re delighted to be backing Melissa and Ben in an area as important as cryptography.”
Nick Kingsbury, Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners, said: “As data volumes and cyber threats grow, the need for the ultra-high throughput and low latency that Sitehop delivers means that the company is seeing strong demand from customers in many sectors. This funding gives the company the ability to deliver on that demand.”
Chris Borrett, Mercia Ventures, said: “Melissa and Ben have addressed a problem that even the biggest tech companies have failed to solve. We believe Sitehop is poised to become a major UK success story, and we are excited to partner with them on this journey.” NPIF and Mercia first invested in Sitehop in 2022.
Debbie Sorby, Senior Manager at British Business Bank, said: “Eight years on from the launch of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, we continue to see the remarkable impact businesses are making on the Northern economy. The Fund was designed to support innovative companies across the region, helping them to grow and thrive. Sitehop is a standout example of this success, now one of the UK’s leading technology businesses.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About Northern Gritstone
Northern Gritstone is an investment company dedicated to supporting ambitious science and technology businesses in the North of England. Its philosophy is ‘profit with purpose’ combining strong returns for investors with wider positive, societal and economic impact, including high-skilled job creation and regional growth. Chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, the company has made 40 investments in some of the UK’s most exciting future businesses.
Northern Gritstone works alongside NG Innovation Services, its high-performance growth experts for early-stage science and technology companies. The five functions within NGIS, which includes NG Studios, connect ambitious company founders with funding and expertise to quickly scale their businesses.
For more information, please go to: https://northern-gritstone.com/
About Sitehop
Sitehop is the World’s Fastest Hardware Enforced PQC Ready Encryption. Cybersecurity is evolving fast with AI and quantum threats. Traditional encryption lags behind Sitehop’s FPGA-powered, crypto agile solutions deliver unmatched sub-microsecond latency, secures data instantly and proactively, so a network stays protected before threats even appear.
For more information, please visit www.sitehop.com
