Sheffield-headquartered company SCI Semiconductor, which has developed the world’s first memory-safe computer chip, has raised £5 million to accelerate production.
The heavily oversubscribed round was led by two Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) fund managers, PXN Ventures and Mercia Ventures, which are responsible for NPIF II - PXN Equity Finance and NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance, respectively. It also included investment from specialist cyber security seed investor Osney Capital, US-based Black Opal Ventures and private investors.
Memory safety is the key factor in around 70 per cent of cyberattacks. Traditional software allows memory to be accessed freely, giving developers flexibility but creating vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. It also means coding flaws can bring down an entire system, as in the 2024 CrowdStrike outages. With SCI’s solution, security is embedded in the computer architecture.
It divides memory into trusted compartments and tightly controls access. SCI’s ICENI range is the first chips to be based on CHERI technology, a government-backed framework for ‘memory-safe’ technology, and the company has been appointed as a core supplier in the UK government’s Accelerated CHERI Adoption Programme.
The launch comes amidst fears that AI tools such as Mythos, which can reveal deep flaws in computer systems, could pave the way for a new wave of cyber attacks - with critical infrastructure, defence and medical sectors particularly at risk.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned that software patching alone might not provide enough protection and is urging companies to adopt memory-safe technology. SCI’s chip will also enable users to meet many of the reporting requirements for the European Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which comes into force in September.
SCI Semiconductor was founded in 2022 by industry veteran Haydn Povey, Silicon Valley executive Krishna Anne, and leading Microsoft Research specialist Dr David Chisnall, who were joined by academics from the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester.
The company has already fabricated its first devices and secured orders worth over £2 million. It has also won government contracts totalling £7.7 million and agreed partnerships with Google Research and Microsoft. According to Haydn Povey, CEO, the problem of memory safety is finally being taken seriously.
“As AI is identifying hundreds of critical vulnerabilities, it is clear that huge swathes of technology are open to attack. Additionally, with so much code generated by AI, the question is how much of it is fit for purpose and what risk that could pose to systems.
Since unveiling our ICENI chip earlier this year, demand has been overwhelming. The funding will enable us to step up production and develop a new generation of chips here in the UK.”
Will Schaffer, Investment Director at Mercia Ventures, added:
“SCI Semiconductor brings together some of the leading minds in the industry. They have developed an elegant solution to a trillion-dollar problem – one that has so far eluded other players – and the business has quickly gained traction.”
The company currently employs 35 staff at its headquarters in Sheffield and its office in Cambridge and plans to create another 15 jobs in the next year.
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