ZK Proof Companies (2026): Every Zero-Knowledge Proof Company, Compared
The definitive directory of companies building zero-knowledge proof infrastructure, rollups, provers, and applications. Funding, proof systems, hardware requirements, and performance benchmarks. Updated March 2026.
ROLLUPS & L2s: Polygon StarkWare Aztec zkSync Scroll Mina
APPLICATION: Worldcoin Zcash
Summary Table ↓
Zero-knowledge proofs allow one party to prove a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. They are the foundation of blockchain scaling (rollups), privacy (shielded transactions), and increasingly, identity and compliance.
The ZK ecosystem has attracted over $3 billion in funding since 2020, spanning rollup infrastructure, prover hardware, developer tooling, and applications. This directory covers every significant ZK company, what they've built, and how their performance compares.
Also see our companion directory: FHE Companies (2026).
ZK Infrastructure & Prover Companies
Prover networks, zkVMs, hardware acceleration, verification layersH33 — Post-Quantum ZK-STARK + FHE Auth API
The only company combining ZK-STARKs with FHE and post-quantum signatures in a single API call. ZK proofs are used for compliance attestation, biometric verification, and session proofs — all post-quantum secure (SHA3-256 hash, no elliptic curves). Proofs generated and verified as part of a full authentication pipeline, not standalone.
Full pipeline: 38.5 µs/auth (FHE + ZK + Dilithium + ML) · 2.17M auth/sec
Post-quantum: Yes — SHA3-256 hash, no ECC dependency
Succinct Labs — SP1 zkVM
General-purpose zkVM powering ~90% of the rollup market. Clients include Optimism, Base, Unichain, and Ink. Series A $55M led by Paradigm. SP1 Hypercube achieves real-time Ethereum proving. Launched Prover Network and $PROVE token. Previously required 160-200x RTX 4090 GPUs ($300-400K cluster); new Hypercube brings this down to 16x RTX 5090.
Hardware cost: 16x RTX 5090 (~$24-48K) or 200x RTX 4090 ($300-400K)
RISC Zero — R0VM zkVM + Boundless
General-purpose zkVM enabling developers to write Rust programs and generate ZK proofs of execution. Series A $40M (Jul 2023). R0VM 2.0 reduced Ethereum block proving from 35 minutes to 44 seconds. Boundless decentralized proof marketplace live on mainnet since Sep 2025 — 542.7 trillion cycles processed, 399K orders. Claims 7x cheaper than SP1.
Hardware cost: ~$120K GPU cluster for near real-time proving
Ingonyama — ZK Hardware Acceleration
Hardware-focused ZK acceleration. ICICLE is an open-source, MIT-licensed library for running ZK provers on GPUs — allows developers with zero GPU experience to accelerate ZK applications. Also building FPGA implementations (Xilinx, Intel) and designing custom silicon IP. Seed led by IOSG Ventures, Walden Catalyst, Geometry. Backed by teams behind Zcash, Arbitrum, Filecoin. Hosts "Z Games" — competitive ZK prover benchmarking.
Approach: Hardware-agnostic acceleration (GPU today, FPGA/ASIC roadmap)
Irreducible — Binius Proof System
Building Binius — a novel ZK proof system that operates over binary fields instead of large prime fields, enabling dramatically more efficient proofs for binary computation. Vitalik Buterin wrote an explainer calling it a potential breakthrough for proof efficiency. Seed $15M co-led by Paradigm and Bain Capital Crypto. Series A $24M (Jan 2025). Polygon Labs partnering on a Binius-based zkVM.
Status: Research + production development with Polygon
Fabric Cryptography — VPU Custom Chip
Building the VPU — a custom chip designed for both ZK proof generation and FHE computation. Series A $33M (Aug 2024). Polygon purchased $5M of VPU systems. 60+ engineers recruited from Nvidia, Apple, and Google. Targets mass production of hardware-accelerated cryptographic processors.
Target: Hardware acceleration for ZK + FHE workloads
Gevulot / ZkCloud — Decentralized Prover Network
Decentralized compute network for ZK proof generation and verification. Users deploy any prover and offload compute to hardware operators. Rebranded from Gevulot to ZkCloud. Firestarter mainnet live Dec 2025. 2M+ proofs generated, 5M+ verifications. Seed $6M led by Variant. Angel investors include Marc Boiron (Polygon CEO) and Shumo Chu (Manta founder).
Aligned Layer — ZK Verification on EigenLayer
Making ZK proof verification on Ethereum faster and cheaper via EigenLayer. Evolved from pure verification into a broader rollup-as-a-service platform. Seed $2.6M, Series A $20M led by Hack VC. Community rounds on CoinList ($3.6M) and Echo ($1M, filled in 3 minutes). Token launched Jan 2025.
Atheon — ZK & MPC R&D Lab
Cryptography R&D lab focused on making zero-knowledge proofs and multiparty computation practical for the next billion users. Deep technical team working on infrastructure to bridge the gap between academic ZK research and production deployment. Operating in stealth mode with limited public funding disclosure.
ZK Rollups & Layer 2s
Blockchain scaling solutions using zero-knowledge proofsPolygon — ZK Rollup Ecosystem
The largest ZK ecosystem by capital deployed. $451M in token sales plus $1B+ treasury committed to ZK development. Polygon zkEVM, Polygon Miden (STARK-based), Polygon Zero (recursive proofs). Acquired ZK firm Toposware (Jun 2024). Purchased $5M of Fabric VPU hardware. zkEVM confirmation under 2.5 seconds, avg fee $0.015.
Scale: Billions of dollars in TVL across Polygon chains
StarkWare — Starknet (STARK L2)
Invented STARK proofs (Scalable Transparent Arguments of Knowledge). Builds Starknet, an Ethereum L2 rollup, and StarkEx, a permissioned scaling engine used by dYdX, Immutable X, and Sorare. Series D $100M at $8B valuation (May 2022). Founded by Eli Ben-Sasson (STARK co-inventor). Cairo programming language for provable computation.
Scale: Processed 300M+ transactions via StarkEx
Aztec Network — Private ZK Rollup
Invented the PLONK universal proof system. Building the first hybrid ZK rollup combining privacy + scaling: one ZK layer encrypts transactions, another compresses them. Series A $17M, Series B $100M led by a16z. Token sale raised ~$61M (Dec 2025). Noir programming language is becoming a standard for ZK circuit development.
Differentiator: Only rollup combining privacy + scaling natively
zkSync / Matter Labs — ZK Rollup + Elastic Chain
ZK rollup with full EVM compatibility. Series C $200M at $1B+ valuation (Nov 2022). Total $458M raised. zkSync Era mainnet live since Mar 2023. Introduced "Elastic Chain" — network of interconnected ZK chains sharing a prover. $ZK token launched Jun 2024. One of the highest-funded ZK projects globally.
Approach: EVM equivalence via ZK compilation
Scroll — zkEVM Rollup
ZK rollup achieving bytecode-level EVM equivalence — existing Ethereum contracts deploy without modification. Series A $30M, Series B $50M led by Polychain Capital. Mainnet live since Oct 2023. $SCR token launched Oct 2024. Focus on developer experience and seamless Ethereum compatibility.
Scale: Mainnet live, growing TVL
Mina Protocol — 22KB ZK Blockchain
The lightest blockchain — entire chain state is always 22KB via recursive ZK proofs. Built by O(1) Labs. Series A $10.5M, token sale $48M. o1js framework lets developers write ZK programs in TypeScript. zkApps platform for privacy-preserving applications. Unique approach: every node verifies a SNARK instead of replaying all transactions.
Developer tool: o1js — TypeScript ZK development (lowest barrier to entry)
ZK Applications
Identity, privacy, and real-world ZK deploymentsWorldcoin / World — ZK Identity
Uses ZK proofs for privacy-preserving human identity verification. The Orb scans your iris, generates a hash, and produces a ZK proof that you are a unique human — without storing or transmitting the iris data. Series C $115M (May 2023). Over 10M verified users. Rebranded to "World" in 2025. The largest real-world deployment of zero-knowledge proofs for identity.
ZK use: Proof of unique humanness without revealing biometric data
Zcash — ZK-SNARK Privacy Currency
The original ZK-SNARK cryptocurrency. Pioneered shielded transactions in production since 2016. Upgraded to Halo 2 (recursive proofs, no trusted ceremony). Shielded pool crossed 4.5M ZEC (~20% of total supply) in late 2025. Market cap surged past $6.3B. Electric Coin Company (ECC) and Zcash Foundation jointly govern development.
Innovation: Halo 2 — first recursive proof system without trusted setup
Summary: ZK Companies Compared
| Company | Funding | Proof System | Hardware | Best Latency | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H33 | Patent-pending | ZK-STARK + FHE | ARM CPU | 2.0 µs prove | Auth API |
| zkSync | $458M | Boojum (STARK) | Cloud | Rollup | L2 Rollup |
| Polygon | $451M + $1B ZK | zkEVM / Miden | Cloud + VPU | < 2.5s confirm | L2 Ecosystem |
| StarkWare | $273M | STARK (inventor) | Cloud | Batch | L2 + Engine |
| Worldcoin | $240M+ | ZK-SNARK | Orb + cloud | Identity | Identity |
| Aztec | ~$180M | PLONK (inventor) | Cloud | Rollup | Private L2 |
| Mina | $92M+ | Kimchi (recursive) | CPU | 22KB chain | ZK L1 |
| Scroll | $83M | zkEVM | Cloud | Rollup | L2 Rollup |
| Succinct | $55M | SP1 (STARK zkVM) | 16-200 GPUs | 10.3 sec | Prover Infra |
| RISC Zero | $54M | STARK (R0VM) | GPU cluster | 44 sec | Prover Infra |
| Irreducible | $39M | Binius (binary) | CPU/GPU | In dev | Proof System |
| Fabric | $39M | VPU chip | Custom ASIC | Pre-prod | Hardware |
| Aligned | ~$26M | Verification layer | EigenLayer | Verification | Infra |
| Ingonyama | $21M | ICICLE (GPU lib) | GPU/FPGA | Acceleration | Hardware |
| Zcash | Community | Halo 2 (recursive) | CPU | 10 yr production | Privacy L1 |
| Gevulot/ZkCloud | $6M | Multi-prover | Decentralized | Network | Prover Network |
| Atheon | Stealth | ZK + MPC | TBD | R&D | R&D Lab |
Total ZK industry funding: $3B+. The landscape splits into rollup companies (Polygon, StarkWare, Aztec, zkSync, Scroll) racing to scale Ethereum, prover infrastructure companies (Succinct, RISC Zero, Ingonyama, Irreducible) building the proving layer, and application companies (Worldcoin, Zcash) deploying ZK for identity and privacy. H33 is unique in combining ZK-STARKs with FHE and post-quantum signatures into a single API — not as standalone proof infrastructure, but as part of a complete authentication pipeline.
For the companion directory of fully homomorphic encryption companies, see FHE Companies (2026). For the economic analysis of building vs. buying this infrastructure, see Build vs Buy Post-Quantum Encryption.
ZK-STARKs + FHE + Dilithium in one API call
No GPU cluster. No cryptography team. 38.5 µs per auth. 2.17M/sec sustained.
Get Free API Key →Methodology: Company data sourced from Crunchbase, PitchBook, company press releases, SEC filings, and published benchmarks as of March 2026. Performance numbers are self-reported by each company. H33 benchmarks are independently reproducible — see full benchmark suite. If you represent a company listed here and believe any information is inaccurate, contact support@h33.ai and we'll update it within 24 hours.