Quick take:
- The fundraising pushed the total raised by Zama to over $150 million and values the FHE blockchain pioneer at over $1 billion, according to reports on Wednesday.
- Fully homomorphic encryption secures sensitive data even when being used, making the technology highly applicable in blockchain and AI apps.
- The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate the mainnet launch and efforts towards ecosystem adoption and research.
Zama, the crypto startup pioneering fully homomorphic encryption technology, has raised $57 million in a Series B round co-led by Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital.
The fundraising brings the total raised to $150 million, valuing the startup at over $1 billion, according to reports on Wednesday. The company raised $73 million in a Series A funding led by Multicoin Capital and Protocol Labs in March last year.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate the mainnet launch and efforts towards ecosystem adoption and research. The company also announced that its testnet will open on July 1, with the mainnet planned in the coming months.
FHE technology is used in highly sensitive applications, such as those utilising blockchain technology and AI, to secure data even while it is in use. The Zama protocol allows developers to build secure, decentralised applications without requiring expertise in cryptographic coding.
Some of the applicable use cases in crypto include confidential stablecoin issuance, asset tokenisation, private identity verification and governance. It can also be used outside of blockchain applications where computation on encrypted data is increasingly crucial, such as healthcare and defence.
Commenting on the announcement, Ken Seiff, co-managing partner of Blockchange Ventures, said in a statement: “Zama is commercialising an entirely new generational technology that could redefine how confidentiality is handled in the blockchain and, ultimately, in all of cloud computing.”
“This is our third and largest investment in Zama. Not since I first saw Ethereum in 2014 have I seen a company commercialising an entirely new technology that could be as foundational to our global technology infrastructure.”
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