Vendor profile: Scytale Alpha

Scytale Alpha is an Indian startup focused on quantum communications. Founded in 2019, Scytale Alpha is building quantum secure communications platforms. It bills itself as focused on “deep tech”, i.e, “advanced technologies based on some form of substantial scientific or engineering innovation.” The company has a transfer of technology (ToT) license agreement in place with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). This agreement covers quantum key distribution (QKD) and compact encryption module (CEM). Other vendor partners for C-DOT in this area include Chipspirit Technologies, the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), and New Age Instruments & Materials. Scytale’s key founder is ex-Indian Air Force and the current director of the Indian Space Association.

With connections to national defense ministries and C-DOT licensing, Scytale Alpha has gotten off the ground relatively fast. In 2023, the company won an award for a project conducted for the Indian Navy, developing a “Secure Audio-Visual communication Suite.” This award was part of the “Innovation for Defence Excellence” program under India’s Department of Defence Production, which aims to facilitate self-reliance and innovation in the defence and aerospace sectors. An additional milestone for Scytale Alpha came in November 2023, when it unveiled what it calls “India’s first quantum secure communication platform.”

The platform includes a “robust security infrastructure” including an on-premises solution, and an “advanced post-quantum cryptographic key exchange and a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG),” licensed from India’s DRDO. Scytale claims that this “enables the platform to facilitate secure mutual handshakes between clients, rendering predictions and hacking virtually impossible