Zama has raised $57 million in a Series B funding round to support the launch of its mainnet, drive ecosystem adoption, and enhance research aimed at scaling Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) for high-throughput financial transactions. This funding increases Zama’s total capital to $150 million and values the company at $1 billion.
FHE allows data to be processed without being decrypted, maintaining encryption throughout data transit and processing. This technology enables true end-to-end encryption for online activities, according to Zama’s website.
The Series B round was led by Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital. Zama’s CEO and co-founder, Rand Hindi, said the funding strategy focused on bringing strategic blockchain investors into the ecosystem ahead of the mainnet and token launch.
Ken Seiff, Co-Managing Partner at Blockchange Ventures, highlighted that Zama’s FHE technology could first benefit public blockchains but has broader applications in any industry relying on cloud computing that demands enhanced confidentiality and compliance.
Paul Veradittakit, Managing Partner at Pantera Capital, praised the protocol’s efficiency and developer-friendliness, noting that it supports decentralized applications (dApps) in AI, crypto, and cloud computing. He added that Zama’s technology opens new possibilities for on-chain identity and financial applications previously inaccessible to developers.
This Series B round follows Zama’s $73 million Series A funding in March 2024. Founded four years ago with a focus on FHE, Zama’s approach is centered on what CEO Hindi describes as the “holy grail of cryptography.”