Blockchain cybersecurity startup Fireblocks Inc. recently raised $16 million investment in its first funding round led by Cyberstarts along with additional contributions from Tenaya Capital, EightRoads, Swisscom Ventures, and MState. The New York and Tel Aviv-based startup, which recently emerged from stealth mode, stated the new funding will help accelerate the company’s growth.
Founded in 2018 by a group of security veterans Michael Shaulov, Idan Ofrat, and Pavel Berengoltz, Fireblocks develops a blockchain security service that combines over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, hot wallets, and exchanges into one single platform. Fireblocks claims that its chip-level security and multi-party computation (MPC) technology to help transfer assets across exchanges and wallets securely. Fireblocks security platform uses several layers of security measures including passwords, biometrics, and two-factor identification.
“While blockchain-based assets by themselves are cryptographically secure, moving digital assets is a nightmare. After interviewing over 100 institutional customers, including hedge funds, broker-dealers, exchanges, and banks, we concluded that the current process is slow and highly susceptible to cyber-attacks and human errors,” said Shaulov in a media statement. “We built a platform that secures the process and simplifies the movement of funds into one or two steps.”
“Securing blockchain-based assets is one of the key challenges in modern cybersecurity warfare, and it requires heterogeneous expertise in mathematics, system level programming and years of hands-on cybersecurity experience,” said Sequoia Capital and Cyberstarts partner Gili Raanan. “The Cyberstarts team is thrilled to partner with Michael, Idan, and Pavel, who amazed us with their technology breakthrough to eliminate risk from digital assets management.”
