Blockchain Capital Leads $40M Round for Crypto Firm RISC Zero

RISC Zero, creator of infrastructure that helps developers build zero-knowledge proof software, has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by crypto-focused investment firm Blockchain Capital.

The funds will help RISC Zero bring its Bonsai computing platform to market. Other investors in the round included Galaxy Digital, IOSG, RockawayX, Maven 11, Fenbushi Capital, Delphi Digital, Algaé Ventures, IOBC, Tribute Labs’ Zero Dao, and Alchemy, according to a press release provided to CoinDesk.

The Series A is yet another example that infrastructure projects continue to raise capital despite the extended crypto winter.

Zero-knowledge proofs use cryptography to mathematically validate a transaction while preserving the privacy of that transaction. In March 2022, RISC Zero released an open-source, zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) that allowed developers to build zk proofs that could be executed on any computer using standard traditional or blockchain-focused programming languages.

The forthcoming Bonsai computing platform is a decentralized proving engine that allows developers to easily integrate zk proofs into their applications and chains for improved security and complex computations.

“For developers who are new to crypto, RISC Zero’s technology will allow them to build applications using tools and languages they are more familiar with while imposing many fewer restrictions on the complexity of the code,” RISC Zero CEO Brian Retford told CoinDesk in an email.

RISC Zero previously raised $12 million in Aug. 2022 in a Bain Capital-led seed funding round.