Sitehop

Sitehop builds FPGA-based hardware encryption devices that secure high-speed data-in-motion traffic with sub-microsecond added latency, an architecture the company positions as an alternative to software-based IPsec/VPN encryption, which introduces throughput and latency penalties as traffic volumes scale. Its flagship SAFEblade appliance is designed to plug into existing network infrastructure and encrypt traffic in line, targeting sectors where both speed and confidentiality matter: financial trading networks, 5G and telecom backhaul, government and defense links, and cloud interconnects.

Founded in 2021 in Sheffield, UK by Melissa Chambers and Ben Harper, Sitehop has raised a total of roughly $18.1M across two funding rounds, including a more recent raise the company has publicly framed around building out quantum-ready (post-quantum cryptography) capability ahead of the industry-wide transition away from RSA and ECC algorithms mandated by emerging NIST standards. The company markets to government agencies, universities, financial institutions, telecom operators, and cloud/IoT providers with latency-sensitive encryption needs.

As a Series A hardware security vendor, Sitehop occupies a narrow but genuinely differentiated niche: most encryption products run in software, and hardware-enforced encryption at this latency profile is uncommon outside specialized network security appliance vendors. The tradeoff is that hardware-based deployment is a heavier lift for customers than software agents, and the company’s performance and adoption claims are still largely self-reported at this stage.