Aliro Raises $15M to Build Unhackable Networks with Physics

BOSTON, MA – February 18, 2026 – Aliro, a quantum networking company, today announced it has raised $15 million in an oversubscribed funding round to commercialize a new paradigm in cybersecurity: one that replaces mathematical assumptions with the immutable laws of physics. The investment signals a growing consensus that current encryption methods are on borrowed time, pushing the industry toward a generational shift in how digital trust is established and maintained.

The round was led by deep-tech investor Gutbrain Ventures, with significant participation from existing investors like Cisco Investments and new backers including Argon Ventures and Wonderstone Ventures, the corporate venture arm of electronics giant Murata. The capital will be used to expand deployments, strengthen partnerships, and accelerate Aliro's mission to build the secure foundation for the next era of global networks.

For decades, digital security has been an escalating arms race, with trust built on encryption derived from complex mathematical problems. This model assumes that adversaries lack the time and computational power to break the code. However, the dawn of quantum computing threatens to shatter that assumption, creating a risk known as “harvest now, decrypt later,” where encrypted data stolen today can be broken by powerful computers tomorrow.

“This isn’t about stronger encryption,” said Jim Ricotta, CEO of Aliro, in a statement. “It’s about changing what trust means. Aliro is transforming digital trust from a mathematical probability into a physical certainty.”

A New Foundation for Digital Trust

Aliro's platform moves away from the cat-and-mouse game of computational security. Instead, it leverages quantum entanglement—a phenomenon where particles become linked and share a state, regardless of the distance separating them. By distributing entangled particles over existing fiber optic cables, the company’s software can generate encryption keys or teleport quantum information in a way that is provably secure.

Any attempt by an eavesdropper to intercept or measure the quantum state on the wire inevitably disturbs it, breaking the entanglement and immediately alerting the legitimate users to the intrusion. This makes man-in-the-middle attacks physically impossible and transforms security from a probabilistic defense into a deterministic one. Location cannot be spoofed, keys cannot be copied, and eavesdroppers are instantly detected.

This approach stands in contrast to other quantum-safe technologies. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) relies on new, more complex mathematical algorithms believed to be resistant to quantum computers, but it remains within the assumption-based paradigm. Early forms of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) often required specialized hardware and relied on “trusted relay nodes” for long-distance communication, creating potential points of vulnerability. Aliro’s software-driven, entanglement-based network is designed to provide end-to-end security without such compromises.

Investor Confidence in a Generational Shift

The composition of Aliro’s investors underscores the technology's broad potential. The round was led by Gutbrain Ventures, whose founder, Bob Davoli, also serves as Aliro's Chairman. “Aliro enables a fundamental upgrade to the world's core security and connectivity architecture,” Davoli stated. “Our ability to deliver deterministic security to classical networks today while preparing for the quantum tomorrow makes this one of the most exciting infrastructure opportunities in tech.”

The participation of Cisco Investments points to the strategic importance of future-proofing the world’s networking backbone. Similarly, the backing from Murata’s Wonderstone Ventures suggests a long-term vision for the hardware and component ecosystem that will support this new quantum infrastructure. Aliro estimates the total addressable market for its technology conservatively at over $60 billion.

“We look for visionary teams and disruptive technologies that solve immediate, tangible business problems,” added Bob Mason, Managing Partner at Argon Ventures. “As an engineer and former CTO, I see Aliro solving a most fundamental challenge: enabling irrefutably secure network infrastructure, built on a foundation that is immune to future computational threats.”

From Lab to Live Network

Aliro’s technology is no longer confined to the laboratory. The company has already achieved significant technical milestones, including a software stack that supports over 50 different entanglement and classical network devices. This vendor-agnostic approach is critical for adoption, allowing organizations to deploy quantum-secured networks on their existing fiber infrastructure without a complete overhaul.

The company is a key technology provider for the EPB Quantum Network℠ in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is America's first commercially available quantum network. Aliro has also announced its own live deployment of a multi-node, entanglement-based network that integrates with existing security standards.

Furthermore, the utility of Aliro's entanglement platform extends far beyond secure communications. The same underlying technology can be used to network quantum computers together, creating more powerful distributed systems. It can also link distributed quantum sensors to achieve unprecedented levels of precision for applications like navigation and medical imaging. To help organizations plan for this future, Aliro offers a sophisticated physics-accurate simulator, a “digital twin” that allows customers to design, model, and validate quantum network performance before committing to a physical deployment. This suite of tools and real-world deployments demonstrates a clear path from urgent security needs today to the transformative quantum applications of tomorrow.