Arqit Quantum — vendor dossier

Arqit Quantum

Software & middlewareQKD
A

London-listed (NASDAQ: ARQQ) quantum-safe cryptography vendor selling QuantumCloud — a cloud-delivered Symmetric Key Agreement (SKA) platform-as- a-service for enterprise and defence customers. Originally founded in 2017 to build a global satellite QKD network ("QKDSat") in partnership with ESA and Virgin Orbit; pivoted away from satellite delivery in December 2022 after reclassifying the partly-built satellite as held for sale. The current product is software-only and does not use quantum hardware to generate or distribute keys.

HQ
London, UK
Founded
2017
Status
public
Last verified
Fri May 15 2026 08:00:00 GMT+0800 (Singapore Standard Time)

Timeline

2017201820192020202120222023202420252026202720282029today
2017
Company founded by David Williams (ex-Avanti Communications founder) and David Bestwick to build a satellite-delivered quantum-key-distribution network
2021-05
SPAC merger announced with Centricus Acquisition Corp at $400M PIPE / ~$1.4B implied EV
2021-09
Business combination with Centricus Acquisition Corp closes; Arqit lists on NASDAQ as ARQQ at ~$1.4B implied market cap
2022-12
Strategic pivot — Arqit drops plan to operate quantum-encryption satellites; QKDSat assets reclassified as held for sale, ESA contract reclassified as other income. Company commits exclusively to terrestrial cloud-delivered symmetric-key-agreement platform
2022-12
Technology Update press release confirming go-to-market pivot from direct enterprise license sales to channel-partner QuantumCloud PaaS
2023
Launches three vertical SKA applications on QuantumCloud — NetworkSecure (firewalls), TradeSecure (trade finance), WalletSecure (digital assets)
2023-09
Arqit + SecureCloud+ partnership announced to deliver cyber resilience using SKA to UK defence customers
2024-04
Founders David Williams and David Bestwick disclose open-market share purchases — reaffirmation following extended share-price decline post-pivot
2026
Expansion of SKA channel-partner ecosystem; vertical SKA applications (network, trade, wallet) in production deployments
shipped milestone public roadmap

Current flagship

QuantumCloud Symmetric Key Agreement Platform — software-only PaaS (no quantum hardware in delivery path post-2022 pivot)

Milestones

  1. 2024-04
    Founders David Williams and David Bestwick disclose open-market share purchases — reaffirmation following extended share-price decline post-pivot
    Software & middleware press source ↗
  2. 2023-09
    Arqit + SecureCloud+ partnership announced to deliver cyber resilience using SKA to UK defence customers
    Software & middleware press source ↗
  3. 2023
    Launches three vertical SKA applications on QuantumCloud — NetworkSecure (firewalls), TradeSecure (trade finance), WalletSecure (digital assets)
    Software & middleware blog source ↗
  4. 2022-12
    Strategic pivot — Arqit drops plan to operate quantum-encryption satellites; QKDSat assets reclassified as held for sale, ESA contract reclassified as other income. Company commits exclusively to terrestrial cloud-delivered symmetric-key-agreement platform
    QKD press source ↗
  5. 2022-12
    Technology Update press release confirming go-to-market pivot from direct enterprise license sales to channel-partner QuantumCloud PaaS
    Software & middleware press source ↗
  6. 2021-09
    Business combination with Centricus Acquisition Corp closes; Arqit lists on NASDAQ as ARQQ at ~$1.4B implied market cap
    Software & middleware filing source ↗
  7. 2021-05
    SPAC merger announced with Centricus Acquisition Corp at $400M PIPE / ~$1.4B implied EV
    Software & middleware press source ↗
  8. 2017
    Company founded by David Williams (ex-Avanti Communications founder) and David Bestwick to build a satellite-delivered quantum-key-distribution network
    QKD press source ↗

Roadmap

  • 2026 Expansion of SKA channel-partner ecosystem; vertical SKA applications (network, trade, wallet) in production deployments source ↗

Capability details

QKD

Protocols
Rate vs distance
—
5 unverified fields
  • modalities.qkd.protocol
  • modalities.qkd.rate_distance
  • modalities.qkd.deployed_demos
  • shareholders — Latest 20-F (SEC) not pulled for precise stake percentages; founders' shareholding levels reaffirmed via April 2024 open-market disclosure but exact percentages not extracted
  • modalities.qkd — Block retained because QKD was the original positioning; current product is software-only SKA, not QKD. Kept in categories to preserve the cautionary historical record

People

  • Andy Leaver — CEO (since 2024-09) ↗
  • David Williams — Founder (since 2017) ↗
  • David Bestwick — Co-founder & CTO (since 2017) ↗

References