Leeds’ Optalysys, a leader in fully homomorphic encryption and optical computing, is launching a new cloud-based platform and expanding its team following a £21m fundraise led by Lingotto, imec.xpand, and Northern Gritstone which closed in the summer.
Sonal Sidpara has joined the Optalsys team as head of people, alongside multiple software development roles and the engagement of York-based marketing strategy consultancy Open Velocity. The company plans to create up to 30 new roles over the next 12 months, as well as opening a satellite office in Bristol which will focus on the design of the electronic stages of its new processing chip and the embedded software, both fundamental aspects of bringing the new technology to the mainstream.
Optalysys is developing new hardware that will massively accelerate computing processes on encrypted information, allowing data to remain completely secure at all times. The acceleration is, in part, delivered by its unique next-generation optical processing technology.
The step-change in the ability to work with encrypted information opens the way for enhanced data security and the advancement of AI and other workflows on sensitive datasets, with huge relevance to a wide range of industries, including financial fraud detection and advanced processing of medical data.
Dr. Nick New, co-Founder and CEO of Optalysys, said: “This is an exciting time for us. Having secured investor support, we are now growing at pace and see huge potential in what our technology has to offer. Leeds and the wider region has an array of talent and resources, including world-class universities and a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurial businesses – we feel very much at home in this vibrant city.”
