IonQ Agrees to Buy Elisity in Deal Valued at Up to $1.3 Billion

IonQ agreed to acquire cybersecurity startup Elisity in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion, expanding its quantum-security business with identity-based access controls and network segmentation.

The deal, announced Oct. 12, includes up to $150 million in performance-based earnouts tied to Elisity’s results. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

IonQ will issue shares based on a 20-trading-day volume-weighted average price calculated before closing. The reference price will be capped at $49.61 per share and floored at $33.07.

Elisity’s IdentityGraph platform combines identity, asset and risk information to help organizations enforce least-privilege access for users, devices, workloads and artificial-intelligence agents. Elisity has more than 100 global customer deployments.

After the acquisition closes, the companies plan to add cryptographic inventory and risk information to IdentityGraph. The combination would broaden IonQ’s security portfolio, which includes post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution, with tools for identity-based access controls and network segmentation.

“Q-Day is coming much faster than predicted,” Niccolo de Masi, IonQ chairman and CEO, said.

Elisity CEO James Winebrenner is expected to continue leading the business after the acquisition closes.

“Our customers need to contain attacks today, put AI to work safely, and prepare for quantum risk,” Winebrenner said.

IonQ’s multiproduct revenue grew 40% year over year in the second quarter of 2026. The acquisition remains pending until regulatory approval and other closing conditions are satisfied.