We’re proud to announce that Sitehop has raised an additional £7.5 million, led by Northern Gritstone, bringing our total funding to £13.5 million. The round also included continued support from our existing investors, Amadeus Capital Partners, Manta Ray, Mercia Ventures, and NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, managed by Mercia as part of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

 

Building UK Sovereign Encryption for a Quantum Future

As cyberattacks grow in scale and sophistication, the risk of quantum-enabled breaches becomes more urgent. Today’s software-based encryption methods create latency and slow data transfers, a critical weakness in performance-sensitive networks.

At Sitehop, we’re solving this with our SAFEseries™ system, which performs encryption in hardware rather than software. This approach enables ultra-low latency, quantum-resilient security, and up to 90% lower energy use compared with conventional systems.

Even in the most demanding environments, like telecoms, our hardware encryption delivers high-speed performance with near-zero impact on network efficiency.

 

Proven and Trusted by Industry Leaders

Founded in Sheffield by Melissa Chambers (CEO) and Ben Harper (CTO), Sitehop is already working with major partners including BT.

We recently completed a successful proof-of-concept trial at BT’s Gemini test facility, a replica of BT’s live network and one of Europe’s most advanced telecoms testing environments. Sitehop is also the first external company ever granted access to Gemini, a facility typically reserved for BT’s internal development teams.

Our technology is now live with a tier-one carrier across five countries, proving its scalability and reliability in real-world deployments.

 

Strengthening the UK’s Sovereign Capability

“Sitehop is proving the critical need for future-proof encryption, demonstrated by our early customer traction globally,” said Melissa Chambers, Co-founder and CEO. “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, accelerating international expansion while keeping the UK at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation.”

“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,” added Ben Harper, Co-founder and CTO. “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 drives global growth and delivers lasting social and economic value.”

 

Backed by Leading Deeptech Investors

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.”

Cybersecurity is at a turning point. As the quantum age approaches, today’s encryption will not hold up against tomorrow’s attacks. Techniques like ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ are already in play, and the risk is growing for telecom operators, large enterprises and public infrastructure.

That’s why Sitehop teamed up with BT to run a breakthrough trial at one of the most advanced telecoms testing grounds in Europe.

 

A UK-first for quantum-safe encryption

BT granted Sitehop the first-ever external access to its flagship test and integration facility, a secure replica of its live network environment. This facility is normally reserved for BT’s own internal development, making the opportunity a rare and powerful endorsement of UK cybersecurity innovation.

“Supporting SMEs is vital for the UK’s economic growth and innovation,” said Peter Bell, Managing Director of International Business and Adastral Park at BT.

“As a national champion for the UK, a key mission for BT is to help our customers build stronger, smarter, more secure businesses. An important part of this is helping innovative domestic companies to enter the market, to support supply chain sovereignty and help businesses to grow.”

What we tested and what we proved

Our goal was to show that encryption built for a quantum-safe future doesn’t have to come at the cost of speed or scale. The results were clear:

• 90Gbps throughput
• 75% reduction in power consumption
• Minimal packet loss and improved latency
• Just two clicks to configure and deploy

This was a full proof of concept in a real-world environment. The trial proved that our SAFE Series hardware can run high-speed encryption with near-zero impact on performance, even in demanding telecom conditions.

“With the right support or partnerships and commercial models,” Peter Bell continued, “we see there is potential for BT’s test and integration facilities to serve as a ‘UK PLC’ test facility that accelerates mission-led, high Technology Readiness Level innovations, contributing to a sovereign and secure UK telecoms sector.”

Why it matters now

The UK Government has named quantum one of its six ‘frontier technologies’ for long-term economic growth. To build a quantum-enabled economy, we need telecom infrastructure that is not only fast and resilient, but quantum-secure by design.

“This is a big moment that validates UK sovereign innovation can play a central role in the country’s digital infrastructure,” said Melissa Chambers, founder and CEO of Sitehop.

“We’re proving networks don’t have to sacrifice performance for security.”

Our solution is already live with a Tier 1 carrier across seven countries. It’s based on open IPsec protocols to avoid vendor lock-in and built with crypto agility, meaning firmware can be upgraded remotely as standards evolve.

Safe To Connect

Following the successful trial, BT has granted Sitehop its Safe to Connect certification, a recognition designed to help UK companies prove their technologies are robust enough for live telecom environments. This certification is more than a badge. It acts as a trust signal to operators, enterprises and government buyers that Sitehop’s technology meets the security, performance and integration standards expected in critical national infrastructure. It also marks an important step toward lowering the barriers that often keep innovative smaller companies out of telecom supply chains.

Moving forward together

BT’s collaboration with Sitehop is a signal to the broader ecosystem: it is possible for large and small players to work together to secure the UK’s national digital backbone.

“The initiative reflects BT’s ambition to strengthen the UK’s digital backbone by supporting domestic innovators and lowering barriers to market entry for small businesses,” said BT.

“It exemplifies how large and small/medium organisations can collaborate to protect the country’s national infrastructure and accelerate the UK’s quantum-enabled economy.”

 

 

To find out more, email info@sitehop.com

Or call us on: +44 (0)114 478 2366

Sitehop.

Engineered for speed. Built for the future.