TACEO raises $5.5M seed to scale encrypted data collaboration platform

Austria-based TACEO, a startup building infrastructure for secure computation on encrypted data, has closed $5.5 million seed funding round. 

TACEO develops software that enables multiple parties to work together on sensitive data without revealing the underlying information or relying on centralised trust. This approach, called a “Private Shared State”, is made possible by a new cryptographic technique known as coSNARKs, which blends two advanced methods: Multiparty Computation (MPC) for secure data handling during computation, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK) for verifying outcomes.

The impact of this industry-first combination extends far beyond blockchain. It could enable AI Large Language Models (LLMs) and autonomous agents to verify facts and make decisions without accessing personal or proprietary information. The result is enhanced privacy, stronger security and smarter AI.

Decentralised finance (DeFi), such as stablecoins, which reached a market value of over $250 billion this year, still faces a tough balance between transparency and privacy. Institutions either use public blockchains that reveal sensitive data or build complex, custom systems that don’t work well with the wider web. 

TACEO offers a simpler alternative: its software lets any payment provider verify transactions and identities while proving compliance, without ever revealing the data.

Founded by cryptography researchers from Graz University of Technology, creators of the widely adopted Poseidon hash function and a privacy-first COVID-19 contact tracing system, TACEO has proven its ability to bring cutting-edge cryptography to real-world applications. Its 2023 partnership with World (formerly Worldcoin) secured biometric verification for over 14 million users, marking the largest known deployment of MPC-secured data. In 2024, TACEO was selected to join the a16z CSX accelerator, further validating its position at the forefront of privacy-enhancing technology.

Lukas Helminger, cofounder and CEO of TACEO, comments: 

For over a decade, industries have needed to compute across private, distributed datasets, yet privacy and collaboration never coexisted. The ability to instantly verify encrypted information without revealing the data is no longer a nice-to-have - it’s essential if we want to achieve transparency, fairness, and control in the AI era - before we no longer have the choice. The new cash injection will help us scale our technology to solve what we believe is the internet’s biggest unsolved problem.

The round is led by Archetype VC with participation from a16z CSX, Cyber.Fund, A.Capital Ventures, Polymorphic, and a number of prominent angel investors. 

Ash Egan, Founder and General Partner at Archetype, said:

Decentralised compute has evolved rapidly in recent years. As on-chain use cases proliferate, the need for native private shared state as core infrastructure becomes more and more obvious. TACEO is at the forefront of building programmable privacy into the Web3 compute stack, and we have had massive conviction in Lukas and the team since we first met, following Lukas's presentation on coSNARKs at Archetype HQ. TACEO's mission is wildly bold, and we're ecstatic to announce our partnership with the team as they lock in ‘Private Shared State’ as a core computing standard for crypto.

TACEO, founded in 2022, has already proven the commercial value of its advanced technology. In partnership with Sam Altman’s World (formerly Worldcoin), TACEO built the iris verification software that grants access to the World network. Their solution keeps the biometric data of over 14 million people fully encrypted, even from World itself, making it the largest MPC-secured dataset ever recorded.

Philipp Sippl, board member of World, comments: 

We’ve deployed TACEO to build one of the largest privacy preserving systems in the world. The problem that we’re addressing is not a theoretical one, it’s a problem that needs a solution now and it’s also very important that such a system is built in a way that ensures strong cryptographic privacy, especially with such a widespread application. TACEO’s infrastructure here has been key to fulfill that mission.

The capital from this round will be used to grow the team and scale the technology, expanding TACEO’s use cases beyond crypto and DeFi into all sectors where confidential data is critical, such as identity verification, financial services, and AI.

Lead image: TACEO team | Photo: Uncredited