SpeQtral — vendor dossier

SpeQtral

QKDNetworking
S

Singapore-based satellite-QKD vendor commercialising entangled-photon QKD payloads spun out of the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore. Operated the SpooQy-1 3U CubeSat (deployed from the ISS in 2019) as the technology pathfinder; flying the SpeQtre 6U-class entangled-photon-source demonstrator (deployed November 2025); building SpeQtral-1, a commercial QKD-pathfinder LEO satellite on a Kongsberg NanoAvionics bus with an Mbryonics 10 cm optical terminal, targeting BB84 and BBM92 protocols.

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

Timeline

2017201820192020202120222023202420252026202720282029today
2017
SpeQtral founded in Singapore by Chune Yang Lum and Robert Bedington to commercialise CQT's satellite-QKD work
2019-06
SpooQy-1 3U CubeSat deployed from the ISS; CQT transfers satellite operations to SpeQtral
2019
Seed round — US$1.9M from Space Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, SGInnovate
2020-06
SpooQy-1 publishes in-orbit polarization-entanglement results — demonstrates that a CubeSat-class platform can host an entangled-photon source for satellite QKD
2021-12
Series A — US$8.3M led by Xora Innovation (Temasek deep-tech platform) with TIS
2022-02
SpeQtral-1 mission announced — commercial QKD pathfinder LEO satellite, Kongsberg NanoAvionics bus, Mbryonics 10 cm optical terminal, BB84 + BBM92, supported by Singapore's OSTIn under STDP
2024
SpeQtral + Addvalue sign MoU to advance quantum-secure satellite services via Inter-satellite Data Relay System (IDRS)
2025-11
SpeQtre spacecraft deployed into sun-synchronous orbit carrying SpeQtral's space-qualified entangled-photon-pair source and detector modules — in collaboration with RAL Space
2026
SpeQtre in-orbit BBM92 entanglement-based QKD demonstration with ground station(s) — primary mission objective
2026
SpeQtral-1 final integration; launch window 2025-2026 per SpaceNews and Nanosats DB
2027
Commercial QKD service trials with regional telco / financial partners using SpeQtral-1 as trusted-node space segment
shipped milestone public roadmap

Current flagship

SpeQtre (in orbit) / SpeQtral-1 (in build) — LEO entanglement-based QKD demonstrator (SpeQtre, 2025 deploy) and commercial QKD pathfinder (SpeQtral-1, 2025-2026 launch window)

Milestones

  1. 2025-11
    SpeQtre spacecraft deployed into sun-synchronous orbit carrying SpeQtral's space-qualified entangled-photon-pair source and detector modules — in collaboration with RAL Space
    QKD press source ↗
  2. 2024
    SpeQtral + Addvalue sign MoU to advance quantum-secure satellite services via Inter-satellite Data Relay System (IDRS)
    QKD press source ↗
  3. 2022-02
    SpeQtral-1 mission announced — commercial QKD pathfinder LEO satellite, Kongsberg NanoAvionics bus, Mbryonics 10 cm optical terminal, BB84 + BBM92, supported by Singapore's OSTIn under STDP
    QKD press source ↗
  4. 2021-12
    Series A — US$8.3M led by Xora Innovation (Temasek deep-tech platform) with TIS
    QKD press source ↗
  5. 2020-06
    SpooQy-1 publishes in-orbit polarization-entanglement results — demonstrates that a CubeSat-class platform can host an entangled-photon source for satellite QKD
    QKD paper source ↗
  6. 2019-06
    SpooQy-1 3U CubeSat deployed from the ISS; CQT transfers satellite operations to SpeQtral
    QKD press source ↗
  7. 2019
    Seed round — US$1.9M from Space Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, SGInnovate
    QKD press source ↗
  8. 2017
    SpeQtral founded in Singapore by Chune Yang Lum and Robert Bedington to commercialise CQT's satellite-QKD work
    QKD blog source ↗

Roadmap

  • 2026 SpeQtre in-orbit BBM92 entanglement-based QKD demonstration with ground station(s) — primary mission objective source ↗
  • 2026 SpeQtral-1 final integration; launch window 2025-2026 per SpaceNews and Nanosats DB source ↗
  • 2027 Commercial QKD service trials with regional telco / financial partners using SpeQtral-1 as trusted-node space segment source ↗

Capability details

QKD

Protocols
BB84, BBM92
Rate vs distance
Entanglement-based (BBM92) and prepare-and-measure (BB84) downlinks from LEO; SpeQtre carries a space-qualified entangled-photon-pair source; SpeQtral-1 increases optical aperture to 10 cm vs SpeQtre

Networking

Role
testbed
Products
SpeQtral-1 (in development) — commercial QKD pathfinder LEO satellite, Ground-based QKD systems for terrestrial deployments (Asia-Pacific partnerships)
4 unverified fields
  • key_personnel.2.since
  • key_personnel.3.since
  • modalities.qkd.rate_distance — in-orbit key-rate / fidelity numbers for SpeQtre not yet published; pre-launch lab figures only
  • references.0.citation_key — SpooQy-1 entanglement result is in the literature but not yet imported into project refs.bib

People

  • Chune Yang Lum — CEO & Co-founder (since 2017) ↗
  • Robert Bedington — CTO & Co-founder (since 2017) ↗
  • Alex Lohrmann — Quantum Director ↗
  • Tom Vergoossen — Lead Systems Engineer ↗

References