GCrypt has a team of five at its Jesmond office, as well as an office in Holland for its European operations.

Baker said: “It’s more about being green in Europe, but the key driver we see in the UK is cost-saving. People are looking more and more about how they can cut costs, and clearly print and postage is a large part of their expenses bill.

“Nine to 12 months ago, it was about corporate social responsibility and looking for environmentally friendly solutions, but the need to protect data is also becoming increasingly important.

“Especially when we’re dealing with financial services companies, people are more clearly aware of the fact that if they’re going to transfer private information about their clients, it has to be encrypted.”

GCrypt received a six-figure investment in November from Rivers Capital from the North East Angel Fund, a deal which was handled by Newcastle law firm Muckle LLP.

The North East Angel Fund is part of the £125m Finance for Business North East pot formerly known as JEREMIE, which aims to support around 850 SMEs in the next five years.

Muckle partner Peter Robinson said: “We recently hosted an evening with North East Finance for Business Fund managers to review the first year of the £125m ‘superfund’.

“So far £18m has been invested across the North East proof of Concept, Accelerator, Angel, Growth, Growth Plus and Technology funds, attracting £17m private sector co-investment, safeguarding 560 jobs and creating 120 new ones. This is very good news against a background of austerity and public sector cutbacks.”