Cybersecurity for the quantum era: QI raises €9.5 million for secure communications

Vienna-based Quantum Industries GmbH (QI), a startup focused on quantum secure communications for critical infrastructure, announced today the successful completion of its Seed financing round, raising a total of €9.5 million in fresh capital. The financing round was led by Sparring Capital Partners and Findus Venture, two prominent European VC firms, as well as KGAL, […] The post Cybersecurity for the quantum era: QI raises €9.5 million for secure communications appeared first on EU-Startups.

Mar 3, 2025 - 12:55

Cybersecurity for the quantum era: QI raises €9.5 million for secure communications

Vienna-based Quantum Industries GmbH (QI), a startup focused on quantum secure communications for critical infrastructure, announced today the successful completion of its Seed financing round, raising a total of €9.5 million in fresh capital.

The financing round was led by Sparring Capital Partners and Findus Venture, two prominent European VC firms, as well as KGAL, a global asset manager specialising in infrastructure investments.

“We are thrilled to have the support of both private investors and public institutions as we drive forward the next generation of quantum-secure communications. The financial and societal cost of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure is huge so organizations cannot afford to compromise on security,” said Dr Felix Tiefenbacher, Co-CEO and Co-founder of QI. “The enthusiasm for our technology is incredible—every potential customer we’ve spoken to recognizes its value and wants to learn more. With our first customer projects already underway, this marks a significant step towards commercialisation.”

Founded in 2023 by Dr Tiefenbacher,, QI specialises in quantum cryptography – Quantum Key Distribution. Their mission is to revolutionise the security industry by providing the “most secure and efficient cryptographic solutions to our clients – actually backed up by science.”

According to data provided by CI, cybercrime is estimated to cost over €9.5 trillion by 2025 and critical infrastructure is the target of over half of attacks. This funding will enable QI to commercialise its technology and provide critical infrastructure with security from cyberattacks on communications systems and the looming threat of quantum computing, which could break today’s conventional encryption systems in seconds.

Dr Ursin, Co-CEO and Co-founder of QI, added: “We have harnessed more than 40 years of Nobel Prize-winning scientific research to set a new benchmark for quantum secure communications. From day one, our goal has been to establish a global leader in this field. With this investment, we now have the resources and the backing to realise that vision on a global scale. It’s a vision our investors share, and together, we aim to establish Quantum Industries as a key player in securing the future of global communications for critical infrastructure.”

QI’s proprietary Quantum Key Distribution (eQKD) technology is based on the principle of quantum entanglement – an approach to cybersecurity that provides encryption via a law of physics which is inherently impossible to hack.

QI is well positioned to build a pan-continental backbone quantum secure communication network. It is a key supplier of the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure programme (EuroQCI) and is working with national and international critical infrastructure providers to deliver the foundations of secure communication.

This has reportedly already resulted in €1.8 million of booked sales in QI’s second year of operation.

“With surging demand in computing power for artificial intelligence and convergent technologies, we see unprecedented growth in data centres. At the same time, the potential of quantum computing requires new and much higher standards in cybersecurity and encryption. Quantum Industries effectively addresses this emerging need and we are proud to support them”, commented Michael Steiner, CEO of Sparring Capital Partners.

With ever-increasing demand for computing power, QI’s technology is also ideally suited to enable the next generation of data centres that connect multiple quantum computers to store, process and secure data.

“Quantum technology will be a decisive force over the next decades and remains one of few areas of technology in which Europe is globally leading. QI and its world-class team are the prime example in this context as they have developed and are commercialising the most potent quantum key distribution system globally available”, commented Christian Federspiel, Founder and CEO of Findus Venture.

Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, former Board Member of Daimler AG, CEO of Daimler Trucks and Supervisory Board Member of Andritz AG and AMAG will also be joining the Board of QI for Sparring Capital along with other industry and investment professionals.

“When it comes to critical infrastructure, cybersecurity is non-negotiable. Quantum Industries is the only company able to provide that absolute security. As specialist investors in infrastructure, we recognise the urgent need for a Europe-wide secure communications network and look forward to working with Quantum Industries to deliver that,” commented Gregory Ingram, Shareholder and Supervisory Board Member of KGAL

The post Cybersecurity for the quantum era: QI raises €9.5 million for secure communications appeared first on EU-Startups.