Two French identity technology entrepreneurs have put their own money into a Czech cybersecurity startup after first using its product – a vote of confidence that has helped the company raise €6.8 million in Series A funding to take post-quantum authentication to banks in the Middle East and the United States.
Funding and investor endorsements
The round was led by Seventure Partners, a European venture capital firm that previously backed IDnow – the company that acquired ARIADNEXT, the digital identity business founded by Marc Norlain and Guillaume Despagne. Norlain and Despagne joined the round as angel co-investors, alongside returning investors J&T Ventures, which is now writing its third cheque into Wultra, and Elevator Ventures, the venture arm of Raiffeisen Bank International.
“As identity experts, we believe that quantum-resistant authentication solutions will play a key role in the emerging European wallet ecosystem. We have known Wultra for years as their customers, and we are convinced they will be a leader in this field,” Norlain and Despagne said jointly. The pair had grown ARIADNEXT from a Rennes-based startup into a French market leader before selling it to IDnow in 2021.
Seventure’s involvement is a signal that post-quantum authentication has moved beyond a niche security concern. Julien Cazor, venture partner at Seventure Partners, said: “Wultra sits precisely at that intersection: a team that has built a proven post-quantum-ready authentication solution already trusted by financial institutions across multiple markets. As the industry accelerates its transition to quantum-resilient infrastructure, we believe Wultra is uniquely positioned to define the next standard in digital identity for financial services.”
J&T Ventures first backed Wultra in 2022, followed by a €3 million Seed+ round in January 2025. Zuzana Ondrejová, partner at J&T Ventures, said: “We backed Wultra as the first investor in 2022, and since then, we have seen consistent growth and the team’s ability to transform security products to post-quantum resistant technology.”
Elevator Ventures, now on its second Wultra round, emphasised the urgency. “We see the accelerating need of the global banking industry to deploy post-quantum security solutions already today. Over the last year, Wultra has proven that they are ready to grow internationally,” said Maximilian Schausberger, managing director at Elevator Ventures.
Technology that meets a quantum threat
Wultra, founded in December 2014 by Petr Dvořák, develops authentication software for banks and fintechs that replaces older login methods – passwords, one-time SMS codes and traditional public-key cryptography – with a system designed to resist both current phishing attacks and future quantum computer threats. The platform covers the full digital identity journey, from onboarding and identity proofing through to user authentication, transaction authorisation and electronic signatures.
A key differentiator is ease of integration. Wultra’s system can be added to existing banking infrastructure in around eight weeks without requiring a complete overhaul – a significant advantage given that for most banks, the biggest hurdle is not finding a quantum-safe solution but deploying one without disrupting customers or launching a lengthy IT project. Clients include Raiffeisen Bank International, Erste Digital, OTP Bank and Global Payments. Norlain and Despagne were also clients before they invested.
Gartner gave independent validation by naming Wultra a Sample Vendor for post-quantum authentication in its 2025 Hype Cycle for Digital Identity – a category Wultra says it helped create. The analyst firm warns that by 2029, advances in quantum computing will compromise the standard asymmetric cryptography used in most bank login systems, giving the industry only three years to act when typical technology upgrade cycles already exceed that timeframe.
The market is already responding. The global post-quantum cryptography market is forecast to grow from $420 million in 2025 to $2.84 billion by 2030, a compound annual rate of 46.2%, with banking and financial services the largest sector. Regulatory deadlines are adding pressure: the US National Institute of Standards and Technology published its first official post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024, and the European Commission released a coordinated quantum-safe roadmap in June 2025, endorsed by 18 EU states, setting 2030 as the compliance deadline for critical infrastructure including finance.
Competitors exist but do not overlap directly. PQShield, a UK company with over $63 million in funding, focuses on embedding post-quantum cryptography into chips and firmware rather than bank-facing applications. HYPR offers passwordless authentication but not a post-quantum architecture. Post-Quantum specialises in VPN and communications, not financial services or identity. Wultra’s niche – post-quantum authentication built specifically for banks and fintechs, with straightforward integration – remains unoccupied by any rival.
Expansion plans and market position
Petr Dvořák, who previously worked as a partner at mobile app studio Inmite (acquired by Avast in 2014) and later led Avast’s mobile innovation incubator, said the company has been building momentum. “Last year was a dynamic period for Wultra. We expanded our product portfolio beyond authentication to cover the broader digital identity journey, from onboarding and identity proofing to user authentication, transaction authorisation, and electronic signatures. We grew our team by nearly 50%, established a presence in Singapore, and now support more than 70 clients across 25 countries.”
Wultra will use the new capital to grow its digital identity platform, develop features for the European Digital Identity Wallet, expand into the Middle East and the United States, and hire more staff to support larger clients. Singapore, where the company opened an office in 2025, now serves as its ASEAN hub.
The broader security industry – including firms such as Thales, IBM and Palo Alto Networks – may eventually launch competing post-quantum banking authentication solutions, posing a challenge for a Series A-stage company based in Prague. But the fact that the founders of France’s leading identity technology company invested after using Wultra’s product themselves remains one of the strongest endorsements the startup could have received.
