Aquark Technologies, a UK-based quantum technology company, has secured €5 million in seed financing led by the NATO Innovation Fund to boost the scale and availability of its innovative quantum sensing technology. The investment will help protect critical infrastructure that underpins key sectors like defense, telecommunications, and finance, which rely on precise signals for accurate positioning, navigation, and timing.
Aquark’s patented cold atom trap technology enables the development of high-performing, magnetic field-free sensors that are smaller, lighter, and more power-efficient than traditional quantum sensors. This breakthrough has significant implications for both civilian and commercial use, as well as defense applications. Key individuals involved in this effort include Andrei Dragomir, CEO of Aquark Technologies, Alexander Jantzen, COO of Aquark Technologies, Kelly Chen, Partner at NATO Innovation Fund, Alex Leigh, Investment Director for Defence & Security at UKI2S, and Jacob Bratting Pedersen, Partner & Head of Tech&Defence investments at EIFO.
Boosting Quantum Sensing: Aquark Technologies Secures €5m in Seed Financing
Aquark Technologies, a UK-based quantum technology company, has announced a significant milestone in its journey to develop innovative quantum sensing technology. The company has secured €5 million in seed financing led by the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), with investments from EIFO, UKI2S (managed by Future Planet Capital), and MBDA. This funding marks an important step towards scaling up and making available Aquark’s proprietary technology, which aims to secure critical infrastructure that underpins key sectors like defence, telecommunications, and finance.
Protecting Critical Infrastructure
The importance of securing critical infrastructure cannot be overstated. Research has shown that GPS vulnerability could potentially cause £1 billion in losses per day, with GPS interference incidents increasing by 2,000 percent between 2018 and 2021. Quantum sensors, which are currently used to provide accurate signals, have limitations such as being large, power-hungry, unstable, and vulnerable to jamming, causing them to become less accurate over time. Aquark’s technology addresses these challenges by developing a high-performing, magnetic field-free cold atom trap. This patented method enables the company to reduce the size, weight, power consumption, and cost of its sensors, making them mobile and robust for use in remote and difficult terrains such as underwater and in the air.
Civilian and Commercial Applications
Quantum technologies hold massive commercial potential as they become central to infrastructure worldwide. However, to have meaningful real-world applications beyond fixed infrastructure, they need to be small, scalable, and power-efficient. Aquark’s technology can help secure defensive infrastructure and equipment of countries around the world by being resilient against GPS jamming and underpinning signal accuracy at a low cost. The company’s technology also has civilian and commercial use cases, such as in finance and telecommunications, where signal accuracy and stability are critical.
NATO’s Investment in Quantum Technology
Aquark is the first DIANA (Defence Accelerator for the North Atlantic) cohort company to receive direct investment from the NIF, a standalone venture capital fund backed by 24 NATO Allies and deploying over €1 billion in deep tech to advance defence, security, and resilience. As a member of NATO’s DIANA programme, Aquark explored the dual-use impact of quantum technologies. This is also the NIF’s first investment in a quantum technology company.
Supporting the Quantum Ecosystem
The investment in Aquark Technologies demonstrates the commitment of organizations like the NIF, EIFO, and UKI2S to support the development of quantum technologies and their applications. The funding will enable Aquark to rapidly expand its team, grow collaborations, increase capabilities, and tackle the hardest miniaturization problems to achieve production at scale. As NATO countries prioritize the Alliance’s “quantum-readiness,” among other areas, Aquark’s technology can help improve the Alliance’s defence, security, and resilience with enhanced sensing, precise positioning, navigation, and timing, and secure data communications.
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