Canadian cybersecurity company Lastwall closed a $16 million Series A extension led by the Business Development Bank of Canada's BDC Capital, with participation from Frostbite Capital and returning backers Blue Bear Capital, BlueWing Ventures and 18West. The round, announced on May 27, 2026, marks the StrongNorth Fund's first placement into the cybersecurity vertical and is being deployed to bring Lastwall's U.S.-proven sovereign security stack home to protect Canada's defense customers and critical infrastructure operators.
Identity-First Authentication, Built for the Quantum Era
Lastwall, headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick, has spent close to a decade selling identity and access software to the U.S. Department of Defense and the Government of Canada. Its platform is built around quantum-resilient cryptography, designed to keep sign-in and session management secure against "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks that anticipate the eventual arrival of cryptographically relevant quantum computers.
What the $16M Will Fund
The company says it will use the capital to fuel a procurement initiative across Canadian defense sectors and to expand its sovereign cyber defense platform. As part of the round, Peter Dawe, the recently appointed Vice President of Defence Strategy at BDC and a retired Canadian Armed Forces Major General, joined Lastwall's board.
Why This Round Matters
Sovereign cyber defense has become a hot funding theme as critical infrastructure operators look to insulate themselves from foreign software risk and from the looming threat of quantum-enabled decryption. Western governments have warned that adversaries are already collecting encrypted traffic in bulk to decrypt once a sufficiently powerful quantum computer arrives, which makes identity, key exchange and session security urgent upgrades rather than long-term R&D items.
The deal sits alongside a wave of recent cybersecurity raises, including Exaforce's $125M Series B for AI cyber defense agents and broader defense AI momentum visible in rounds like Helsing's $1.2B round at an $18B valuation. Investors are increasingly willing to write growth-stage checks into companies whose customer base skews toward governments and operators of national infrastructure.
A Sovereign Canadian Stack
Lastwall positions itself as a Canadian alternative to U.S. and Israeli incumbents in identity and zero-trust security. By taking lead capital from a federally backed institution and seating a former Major General on its board, the company is signaling that its near-term expansion will focus on Canadian defense, intelligence and critical infrastructure customers before it pushes further internationally.
What to Watch
Lastwall has been operating in stealthy government channels for years. The next test is whether the $16 million extension translates into visible commercial contracts in Canadian energy, telecom and transportation sectors, and whether it can win share in NATO-aligned markets that are racing to adopt post-quantum cryptography ahead of new compliance deadlines.
Reporting based on coverage from Quantum Computing Report, SecurityWeek, Cantech Letter and Lastwall.