Sheffield-based encryption startup Sitehop has secured £1m from the NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, a fund operated by Mercia that focuses on Yorkshire and the Humber and Tees Valley.
The startup was co-founded in 2021 by Melissa Chambers and Ben Harper. Its encryption hardware manages that companies can plug into their networks to manage encryption. The startup says this hardware approach reduces the attack surface compared to encryption software and frees up resources on the existing server infrastructure.
“With the surge in demand for video calls and cloud computing, network operators are under pressure to roll out high-speed services rapidly and security is often the last consideration,” said Melissa Chambers, CEO and co-founder of Sitehop.
Sitehop says that its encryption tech can be used in telecoms, data networks and the cloud.
With Mercia’s investment, Sitehop plans to launch a trial in Brazil, purchase new equipment, hire 20 people before the end of the year and plans to launch its encryption offering sometime in the spring.
Dan Thomas, investment manager at Mercia, said: “Until now there has been no way to provide the necessary security without slowing down response times and affecting quality. Ben and Melissa have found a novel way to address a problem that even the big tech companies have so far failed to solve.”
Mercia, an asset manager with a regional focus, has already invested this year into employee upskilling platform HowNow’s Series A and digital twin company Slingshot Simulations’ Series A.
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