Fabric Secures $33M to Develop Innovative Data Privacy Chip

Funding Overview

Fabric Cryptography, a hardware startup based in Silicon Valley, has successfully secured $33 million in a Series A funding round. This round was co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with additional participation from Offchain Labs, Polygon, and Matter Labs. This funding comes after a previous $6 million seed round led by Metaplanet, along with contributions from Inflection and Liquid2 Ventures.

Development of the Verifiable Processing Unit

The company is focusing on the creation of a new cryptography processing unit known as the Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU). This silicon chip is designed with a cryptography-specific instruction set architecture, allowing it to break down cryptographic algorithms into their fundamental mathematical components, which the chip can accelerate and support natively.

Production and Performance Expectations

The VPU is anticipated to enter production later this year. It aims to enhance the speed and cost-effectiveness of cryptographic workloads compared to traditional central processing units (CPUs) and graphical processing units (GPUs).

Founders and Vision

Fabric was founded by former MIT and Stanford students: Michael Gao, Tina Ju, and Sagar Reddy. Gao expressed the potential of advanced cryptographic algorithms to not only protect data but also establish trust if executed efficiently. He noted the disparity in investment between AI chips and cryptographic processing capabilities, emphasizing that existing CPUs and GPUs are not optimized for the intensive mathematical requirements of advanced cryptography.

Market Demand and Software Development

The startup has identified a significant market need for its hardware within the blockchain sector, particularly with the increasing adoption of zero-knowledge proofs to enhance privacy and security in on-chain transactions. Fabric has reportedly received tens of millions of dollars in pre-orders for its VPUs from the Web3 industry. Additionally, the company is developing a software stack to ensure that its technology is accessible to software developers.

Future-Proof Technology

Dr. Wei Dai, a cryptographer and research partner at 1kx, highlighted the adaptability of the VPU, stating that it can efficiently run virtually any cryptographic workload. Unlike conventional fixed-function chips often used in cryptography, the VPU is designed to be future-proof, capable of evolving alongside new cryptographic algorithms as they emerge and become mainstream.