IonQ said on Monday that it signed a firm agreement to buy Elisity, a zero trust security company, SecurityWeek reported. Zero trust means no user or device is trusted by default. The deal is paid in stock and is worth up to $1.3 billion. SecurityWeek said up to $150 million of that is an earnout, which depends on how Elisity's business performs. Elisity said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, once conditions are met, including regulatory approval. According to IonQ, Elisity has more than 100 customer deployments. SecurityWeek said the startup has raised more than $70 million.
Both companies say they plan to add cryptography inventory and risk data to Elisity's IdentityGraph tool. The aim is to help customers pick which post-quantum upgrades to do first. Elisity describes this as a plan, not a finished product. The sources give no launch date for it. SecurityWeek said the number of IonQ shares will depend on IonQ's average share price before closing, kept between $33.07 and $49.61. The sources do not say what the deal will cost customers or whether any products will change. Elisity CEO James Winebrenner said he will stay on as chief executive after closing.
For teams that buy or run security software, Elisity's customers will now deal with a vendor owned by a quantum computing company. Elisity says existing identity context and policies are meant to carry forward. Buyers planning cryptography upgrades may want to ask both companies how the joint roadmap will work in practice.