- Modular blockchain developer Inco has completed its initial round of funding.
- The project raised $4.5 million from Circle Ventures, GSR, Polygon Ventures, Robot Ventures, Alliance DAO and venture capital firm 1kx, which led the round.
- The Inco team also launched its first test network.
The Inco Network team announced the completion of its $4.5 million fundraising.
📣We are excited to announce our $4.5 million fundraise, led by @1kxnetwork, to develop Inco, a modular, confidential computing Layer-1 blockchain powered by fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) and secured by Ethereum.
Inco stands for the universal confidentiality layer for… pic.twitter.com/N0ryBnvaEh
- Inco – #ETHDENVER ⌐◨-◨ (@inconetwork) February 21, 2024
According to a statement from the developers, the investment round was led by venture capital firm 1kx. The project has also received funding from Polygon Ventures, GSR, Robot Ventures, Alliance DAO and Matter Labs.
The firm reportedly started fundraising in September and will close at the end of 2023. Inco founder Remy Guy explained that the project raised the funds through a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE).
Inco is a modular, interoperable Tier 1 blockchain network focused on providing privacy for decentralized applications. It can be compared to the modular Celestia and Lava, which focus on availability and data handling.
According to Gemi Gaya, zero-disclosure proofs and some other technologies can provide some level of privacy. Inco offers homomorphic encryption of information and guarantees data protection in the blockchain.
The modular blockchain is being developed using the Cosmos SDK, according to the data provided:
“New Cosmos projects have a lower market capitalization and are vulnerable to attacks because of this. Therefore, we will implement a dual stake (ETH + INCO) that will allow us to capitalize on the greater economic security and stability of Ethereum to protect our network,” said Guy.
The developers launched the Gentry test network on February 21, 2024. They plan to deploy another Paillier test network in the second or third quarter. The mainnet is expected to launch near the end of the year.
Inco currently employs eight people. Thanks to the raised capital, the management plans to hire several more engineers and continue working on the development of the ecosystem.
In February, AltLayer raised $14.4 million in investment from Polychain Capital, Hack VC and other funds.
