Singaporean brothers use unsolvable maths equations to build modern, unbreakable encryption
SINGAPORE – Lim Meng Liang, 38, spends most of his time solving the impossible. As a specialist in Diophantine equations – notoriously complex mathematical problems famous for having no solutions – Lim operates in a field most regarded as academic and esoteric. But when he secured his first US pat
By Sarah Koh
SINGAPORE – Lim Meng Liang, 38, spends most of his time solving the impossible.
As a specialist in Diophantine equations – notoriously complex mathematical problems famous for having no solutions – Lim operates in a field most regarded as academic and esoteric.
But when he secured his first US patent in 2022 for novel methods to exploit these unsolvable equations to encrypt data, he created a cryptographic wall that is practically unbreakable for hackers.
“I could have just framed the patent and kept it on the wall,” said the National University of Singapore (NUS) applied mathematics alumnus, who runs his own investment firm.
“But after some hard thinking and discussions with my brother, we decided to do something with it.”
In 2023, Lim joined forces with his older brother Ken Lin – who quit his 15-year finance career – to found Aires Applied Quantum Technology.
The brothers have different surnames due to an error made by their parents when registering Lin’s birth certificate.
The start-up, which has secured more than US$2 million (S$2.6 million) from private investors and local agencies such as Enterprise Singapore, is now actively looking to list in markets such as the US, Singapore or Japan to raise “an eight-digit figure” to market its product globally.
Its flagship product developed over the last three years, LionGuard, is a mobile app that encrypts files stored on devices or in the cloud or networks. With a monthly subscription of $388 per user, it is designed to be a fuss-free tool to protect enterprises and users from cyberthreats enabled by quantum computers.
Quantum computers, which experts project to generate no errors by 2030, are tipped to be able to break current encryption methods much faster than traditional computers.
LionGuard works through a unique encryption key generated by the sender and sent to the intended recipient via the app. The recipient needs to use the LionGuard app to unlock the file.
The app, currently in the beta phase, has over 100 subscribers, including enterprise customers in the oil and gas, commodities trading, education technology, cloud services, banking and financial services sectors.
Lin, 45, declined to reveal more, citing confidentiality agreements.
Aires is working towards lowering the subscription fee to attract more small and medium-sized enterprises such as law and accounting firms, food and beverage chains, family offices and larger firms that deal with sensitive data, said Lin.
Current encryption technology relies on mathematical algorithms to secure data, but the mathematical equations can be easily cracked by quantum computers.
“A standard computer may take 1,000 years to crack current encryption methods, but it will take just two days for quantum computers,” said Lin.
Encryption based on Diophantine equations, on the other hand, are practically impossible to solve even by quantum computers, he added.
Altogether, Aires holds four international patents for advanced data encryption.
Other patents involve encrypting 2D code such as barcodes and QR codes, which is currently being piloted in Europe.
“These are particularly relevant for high-security use cases in payment, logistics, supply chain authentication and product tagging,” said Lin, who had previously headed product and investment advisory at a private bank.
Aires is among a growing list of quantum tech start-ups that have set up shop in Singapore, fuelled by a $37 billion budget unveiled in 2025 to drive research, development and testing of frontier technologies including quantum tech.
They include home-grown start-up Squareroot8 Technologies, whose technology uses the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics to generate a string of random numbers that is impossible for hackers to crack.
In January, local start-up Horizon Quantum set up Singapore’s first commercial quantum computer for hire in one-north, boosting the nation’s goal of achieving breakthrough applications.
Located in MacPherson, Aires now has eight employees in software development, marketing and business operations.
The siblings’ parents initially questioned why Lin was giving up a stable career in finance.
“They asked me whether I knew what I was doing, and if I should involve my older brother,” said Lim, the maths whiz.
But Lin has not looked back since as he felt the risk was worth taking.
“In 2023, when we went for our first tech event and shared that we were building quantum cryptography, the first question I got from the audience was whether this was a new form of cryptocurrency,” he said.
“Today, I don’t get such questions any more – there’s been an obvious shift. Organisations are now asking practical questions about integration, deployment timelines and long-term readiness.
“We see this as a very encouraging sign of growing momentum in the industry.”