EigenQ, a company that builds cybersecurity systems designed to defend against future attacks by quantum computers, plans to go public, according to Reuters.
The company will list through a merger with Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company trading under the ticker SVAQ.O, in a deal that values the quantum tech firm at $3 billion, Reuters reports.
A SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, is a shell company that raises money from investors and then merges with a private business to take it public — often a faster route to the stock market than a traditional initial public offering.
The Quantum Insider reports that EigenQ and Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp. announced a definitive business combination agreement to create a publicly traded quantum technology company.
The core problem EigenQ is built around is sometimes called the quantum threat: powerful quantum computers, once mature, could in theory break the encryption that currently protects everything from bank transfers to private messages. That has spurred demand for so-called post-quantum or quantum-safe security tools intended to stay secure even against such machines.
Why it matters: A $3 billion valuation for a company focused on defending against attacks that are not yet practical signals how seriously investors are taking the long-term risk quantum computing poses to today's digital security.