Cryptography company Zama has achieved a milestone by raising $73 million in its Series A funding round. This round was led by industry giants Multicoin Capital and Protocol Labs, with significant contributions from the co-founder of the Solana blockchain, Anatoly Yakovenko, and Metaplanet.
Quick Take:
- Zama has raised $73 million in one of the largest Series A funding rounds.
- The company specializes in fully homomorphic encryption and offers unparalleled data privacy.
- Zama aims to enhance its technology to support large-scale applications.
- It’s fhEVM protocol is gaining traction in the crypto and blockchain space.
The influx of capital is a vote of confidence in Zama’s mission to reshape data privacy and security in the blockchain space. Zama’s innovative goal is the development of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) technology.
The Paris-based company was co-founded in early 2020 by Rand Hindi and Pascal Paillier. Zama has become synonymous with cutting-edge data security.
FHE technology is often hailed as the ‘holy grail’ of cryptography. It allows for computations on encrypted data without the need to decrypt it. This technology ensures end-to-end data encryption even during processing.
With applications like ChatGPT, user requests and responses are analyzed by OpenAI’s servers. However, it poses a potential privacy concern. On the other hand, Zama’s FHE technology promises to encrypt user data throughout the process. It provides an encrypted response that only the user can access.
While acknowledging current limitations in processing speed for massive applications like ChatGPT, Hindi is optimistic about the potential applications of FHE in various industries.
He added,
“We have hundreds of customers in the pipeline for this technology, it is going to take off very fast.”
Zama’s Innovative Approach and Future Plans
This substantial funding will drive Zama’s advancements. To date, the company has already achieved a 100x performance improvement in its FHE tools. It is now aiming for a further 1,000x improvement. Such advancements are crucial for supporting large-scale applications.
Zama’s confidential smart contract protocol, fhEVM, is already making waves in the industry. It enables developers to build privacy-preserving applications.
In addition to Ethereum virtual machine blockchains, plans are underway to expand support to Layer 1 blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. Crypto projects such as Inco, Fhenix, and the Shiba Inu makers are already utilizing Zama’s FHE technology.
Zama is well-equipped to pursue its vision of ensuring data privacy by design with a team comprising experts in cryptography, machine learning, and blockchain technology, half of whom hold PhDs.
The company plans to expand its team further. It is looking to reinforce its position in the blockchain industry while exploring bespoke solutions in AI, healthcare, financial services, and governmental security sectors.
Zama is on track to revolutionize the way data confidentiality is maintained in today’s digital world. Zama’s impact is certain to resonate across a wide range of industries, reaffirming the importance of data privacy.
