Inco Raises $4.5 Million to Build the Universal Confidentiality Layer

Inco Network has raised $4.5 million in seed round funding led by 1kx to build the universal confidentiality layer of the new web, enabling the development of next-generation decentralized applications (dApps), providing confidentiality to existing blockchains, and breaking down the final barrier to the widespread adoption of Web3 technologies.

Wei Dai, Research Partner at 1kx, said, "Smart contracts have been limited by their lack of access to programmable confidentiality. This changes with the latest innovations in threshold FHE and blockchain that Inco is bringing to market. We are thrilled to partner with and support the Inco team in their mission to bring confidentiality to Web3."

In addition to 1kx, we are thankful to be backed by funds including Robot Ventures, Portal Ventures, Circle Ventures, Alliance DAO, Big Brain Holdings, Symbolic Capital, GSR, Polygon Ventures, Daedalus, and Fenbushi Capital, as well as angel builders from across crypto angels: Tarun Chitra from Gauntlet, Yi Sun from Axiom, Fabien from Snapshot Labs, Jon Kol from Hyperlane, Kartik Talwar from ETH Global, Don Ho from OrangeDAO, Kenzi Wang from Symbolic Capital, Will Price, Henri Stern from Privy, Dovey Wan from Primitive Ventures, Scott Moore from Public Works, and Calvin Liu from Eigen Layer.

Why Inco?

Builders venturing into the crypto space today will quickly realize that their innovation potential is limited to ideas suited for a transparent database due to the nature of public blockchains. While many Layer-1 and Layer-2 projects focus on optimizing blockchain scalability, it's clear that a significant portion of dApp use cases remain unattainable without addressing a secondary glass ceiling in the blockchain industry, trustless confidentiality. Enabling confidentiality within blockchains is crucial for facilitating Web2-like experiences across gaming, DeFi, governance, identity, and more. Unlocking new use cases utilizing on-chain confidentiality will pave the way for the next wave of innovation, Total Value Locked (TVL), and user engagement.

Inco is a modular confidential computing Layer-1 blockchain powered by FHE and secured by Ethereum. It serves as the universal confidentiality layer for Ethereum and other networks. To learn more about FHE, Inco, and its applications, you can find additional information in our previous article titled “Introducing Inco: The Modular Confidential Computing Network.”

Inco will unlock a new realm of possibilities within Web3. We welcome you to join us on our journey to empower the next wave of innovative applications. We are always eager to meet folks interested in exploring deeper into this space. Feel free to DM us on Twitter, Discord, or Telegram.