Ingonyama Raises $21 Million for Zero-Knowledge Proof Acceleration and Semiconductor Development

According to Blockworks, Israel-based zero-knowledge technology startup Ingonyama has raised $21 million in seed funding. The company aims to create open-source libraries for zk proof acceleration and develop zk-focused semiconductors in the long term. The funding round was led by Geometry, Walen Catalyst Ventures, and IOSG Ventures, with participation from Samsung Next and the companies behind ZCash, Arbitrum, and Filecoin, among others. Zero-knowledge proofs are cryptographic tools that allow a statement to be proven true without revealing the contents of the statement itself. They are commonly used in crypto for verifying transactions on blockchain-scaling rollups. Ingonyama currently offers two open-source libraries for zk acceleration: ICICLE, which helps developers build zero-knowledge products on GPUs, and BLAZE, a similar service for a class of semiconductors called FPGAs. The startup's main source of revenue comes from clients using its open-source libraries, who pay Ingonyama to ensure their zk infrastructure is properly maintained. Ingonyama founder Omer Shlomovits believes that onboarding users to zk hardware will be easier once a larger number of developers are using the same software. The company plans to focus on software development before moving on to hardware and chip design. Shlomovits also mentioned that Ingonyama is hoping to release some intellectual property related to zero-knowledge hardware in the coming months. Zero-knowledge proofs are a popular concept in crypto, and Ingonyama joins a growing list of firms that have raised funds to develop zk technology. Investors Starkware, Matter Labs, Scroll, and Polygon are all working on ZKEVMs that batch transactions to take up less blockspace on Ethereum. Ingonyama aims to position itself as a central player in the zk technology space by offering zk containers that make it easier for developers to build out zk projects.