55. Ethicronics

Globally sourced electronics can be hiding anything, from malware to counterfeited components, and one venture is working to make hardware trust measurable.

Founder: Dr Franck Courbon
Year founded: 2022
Website: ethicronics.com

What started as a research project at Cambridge University has now transitioned into Ethicronics, a startup that develops a way for governments and defence organisations to see, at scale, what is really inside their hardware.

“While most cybersecurity solutions focus above the software boundary, we operate where the threats are most invisible: inside the hardware itself,” the team explains. “Our nanometre-scale assurance can uniquely close the last blind spot in digital security.”

Cybersecurity is an issue for all businesses. For some organisations, especially governmental, defence or critical infrastructure, it can become a question of national security, or even life and death. We live in turbulent geopolitical times and, as founder Dr Franck Courbon explains, “one compromised chip can undermine entire national infrastructures”.

“While most cybersecurity solutions focus above the software boundary, we operate where the threats are most invisible: inside the hardware itself.”

“Seeing the systemic risk posed by hidden implants, counterfeits and tampering, Courbon realised there was an unaddressed but mission-critical need for trusted visibility into electronics at their deepest levels. “That was the spark to create Ethicronics: making hardware trust measurable, provable and scalable,” he adds.

To move from theory to deployment, Courbon assembled a technical team and secured early pilot projects. The business now has prototypes and are ready for various proof of concepts to go live.

The business has already won its first hardware assurance sale, closed its first investment and will kick off this year by fundraising further. The team has built partnerships with world leaders and talks are ongoing with key industry players for “technology validation”.

That was the spark to create Ethicronics: making hardware trust measurable, provable and scalable.

Looking to the future, the company’s key ambition is to be “the UK’s anchor company for hardware trust using software” in the next three years, leaving a legacy of trusted visibility and hardware assurance.

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Written By

Helena Young Deputy Editor

Helena is Deputy Editor at Startups. She oversees all news and supporting content on Startups, and is also the author of the weekly Startups email newsletter, delivering must-know SME updates straight to their inbox.

From interviewing Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin to spotting data-led working from home trends, her insight has been featured by major trade publications including the ICAEW, and news outlets like the BBC, ITV News, Daily Express, and HuffPost UK.

With a background in PR and marketing, Helena is particularly passionate about giving early-stage startups a platform to boost their brands. That’s one reason she manages the Startups 100 Index, our annual ranking of new UK businesses.

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