Article in the AFR today, just wondering if Mo has spoken about...

Article in the AFR today, just wondering if Mo has spoken about this company?

QuintessenceLabs, a Westpac-backed cyber security company that looks to use advance quantum computing principles to defend against the myriad threats facing companies’ tech infrastructure, has raised $25 million from a suite of investors led by the CSIRO’s venture capital arm, Main Sequence.

The company has existed since 2005 working in the futuristic realm of quantum computing, from the perspective that the eventual wider availability of such fantastically powered computers will pose nightmarish cyber security threats to business systems based on traditional classical computing.

Westpac saw the potential of the technology for its own use, as well as being an investment, back in 2015, when it took an 11 per cent stake in QuintessenceLabs. The company’s founder, Dr Vikram Sharma, said Westpac’s chief information security officer and security team had since been instrumental in helping the company’s product offerings mature for deployment in large, demanding, customer environments.

Since 2015 the bank’s stake has increased to 16 per cent, but this latest funding round had a global flavour with Canadian corporate venture capital fund Telus Ventures leading it alongside Main Sequence. Mizuho Financial Group-backed InterValley Ventures and Canberra-based Rich Lister Terry Snow’s Capital Property Group also chipped in.

Dr Sharma, a former quantum technology researcher at the Australian National University, told The Australian Financial Review the company’s product portfolio had broadened and matured significantly since Westpac’s initial investment. The company’s client base is now spread across the world, and includes the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Staples, ZF Auto, the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the US Department of Homeland Security.

QuintessenceLabs’ products are based on the ability to generate ‘‘keys’’ that have truly random combinations derived from an unpredictable quantum source, which the company says are unhackable.

Dr Sharma said the funding would let it expand its international footprint from the US across the UK, Japan and India. The company’s US subsidiary, established in 2013, would be bolstered, including by hiring a chief revenue officer, while a UK office would also be established. The recently announced AUKUS defence partnership would boost its commercial prospects.

The rising prominence of ransom-ware attacks has also helped sharpen the thinking of potential Quintessence-Labs customers about the threat.

‘‘We’ve been in a fortunate position to see the evolution of the quantum industry since our inception. Practical applications of quantum technology have been on the horizon for some time now, and we’ve made incredible progress,’’ Dr Sharma said.