Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Hardware Acceleration Startup Cysic Raises $12M in Pre-A Round To Advance the ZK Revolution
Co-led by OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital
May 24, 2024— Cysic, a ZK (zero-knowledge) hardware acceleration company, today announced that it has successfully raised $12 million in a pre-A funding round. The round was led by industry leaders HashKey Capital and OKX Ventures, and aims to expedite the generation of ZK proofs in a faster, more cost-efficient, user-friendly and decentralized manner.
This funding round was also marked by participation from prominent investors, including ABCDE, Bit Digital, Coinswitch, IDG, Matrix Partners, Polychain, SNZ Holding, Web3.com Ventures. Other noteworthy angels include George Lambeth (seed investor for Celestia, Arbitrum and Avax) and Ken Li (Co-founder of Eternis).
Founded in August 2022, Cysic has quickly emerged as a trailblazer in the ZK hardware space with an ambitious objective: to deliver real-time ZK proof generation. The current slow pace of generating a ZK proof on a CPU has been a significant hurdle to the broad application of ZK techniques. Leveraging its expertise in ASIC design and GPU engineering, Cysic aims to address this hurdle by offering enterprise-grade ZK compute-as-a-service to an array of ZK projects.
Rui, Investment Manager of HashKey Capital, commented:“As an early-stage investor in Cysic, we have been with them since the beginning and are doubling down our investment in this round. As Vitalik has stated, ZK technology will be the most essential part of ETH’s future. The key challenge in the ZK space is achieving sufficient performance speed. Beyond algorithm improvements, hardware acceleration is equally crucial. Cysic is an industry leader that has already developed GPU and FPGA solutions, and is also ready for ASIC chips. With collaboration from other ZK Layer 1 and Layer 2 projects, we believe Cysic will become an indispensable player in the space.”
Cysic’s ongoing efforts have been focused on specialized ASIC design for real-time ZK proof generation. As previously highlighted in Cysic’s blog post, the flexibility of the zkVM-based ASIC design enhances its final products, ZK Air and ZK Pro. With the compact size of a power bank or laptop charger, ZK Air can be connected to laptops, iPads, or even smartphones via a Type-C interface, thereby accelerating ZK proofs. ZK Pro, akin to traditional mining rigs, is designed to optimize ZK proof generation speed.
The funds raised from this round will be leveraged to bolster the company’s global expansion plans, hire new employees, and facilitate hardware production.
About HashKey Capital
Global in influence and crypto-native, HashKey Capital is a digital asset and blockchain leader helping institutions, founders and talents advance the blockchain industry.
As one of the largest crypto funds and earliest investors in Ethereum, HashKey Capital has managed over US$1 billion in client assets since its inception. Leveraging its unparalleled expertise, HashKey Capital’s venture investments team oversees a diversified portfolio of over 600 pioneering projects across institutional services, infrastructure, data, AI, consumer and more. On the liquid funds front, HashKey Capital manages a suite of digital asset products, including an actively managed fund and the HashKey Bosera Bitcoin (3008) and Ether (3009) spot ETFs, which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).
With our deep knowledge across the blockchain ecosystem, HashKey Capital has built a robust network connecting founders, investors, developers, and regulators.
About OKX Ventures
OKX Ventures is the investment arm of global leading crypto exchange and Web3 technology company OKX, with an initial capital commitment of USD100 million. It focuses on exploring the best blockchain projects on a global scale, supporting cutting-edge blockchain technology innovation, promoting the healthy development of the global blockchain industry, and investing in long-term structural value.
Through its commitment to supporting entrepreneurs who contribute to the development of the blockchain industry, OKX Ventures helps build innovative companies and brings global resources and historical experience to blockchain projects.
Find out more about OKX Ventures here.
