title: Zero-knowledge proofs infrastructure platform Ligero raises $4M seed round from Galaxy Ventures and 1kx to launch zkVM Ligetron

Ligero, a zero-knowledge proofs-focused infrastructure platform, has raised $4 million in a seed round co-led by Galaxy Ventures and 1kx.

Ligero, a startup focused on zero-knowledge proofs infrastructure, has raised $4 million in a seed round co-led by Galaxy Ventures and 1kx.

The round was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, valuing Ligero at $20 million.

Several other notable investors also participated in the fundraising, including Franklin Templeton, Nascent, Anagram, Robot Ventures, and Digital Currency Group.

As part of the deal, Wei Dai, a research partner at 1kx, joins Ligero’s board of directors. The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its engineering and business development teams.

Ligero also announced the launch of Ligetron, a zkVM platform capable of handling 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) on a single NVIDIA L40S GPU with less than 2 GB CPU RAM.

A browser-based implementation of Ligetron can achieve 100 TPS, opening the door for mobile-based zk proof-powered applications.

“Next-gen DeFi, gaming, ML applications, and real-world asset tokenization will crucially depend on scalable privacy. Unfortunately, existing ZK-SNARK L2s are simply too cumbersome for practical use and lack composability,” said Ligero co-founder Muthu Venkitasubramaniam.

Existing ZK-SNARKS powering L2 technology are not suited for true privacy applications given that they can’t run client-side and require significant hardware on the server side.

By contrast, Ligetron is the first and only memory-efficient ZKVM that can be deployed on any device — from a Raspberry Pi to an NVIDIA H100 — delivering consistent and scalable performance.

“We are thrilled to support Ligero in their journey to revolutionize Web3 with blazing-fast, lightweight, and privacy-preserving proofs. Ligetron's remarkable performance, capable of handling 1,000 TPS on a single L40S GPU with minimal CPU RAM, is a testament to the team's exceptional technical capabilities,” said Ananya Chaitanya, partner at Galaxy Ventures.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with the Ligero team as they launch Ligetron, the world’s fastest ZKVM. Muhtu, Matt, and the team have built an incredible technology that will unlock new possibilities for Web3 applications,” added 1kx’s research partner Wei Dai.

“We are impressed by Ligero's technology and the potential it holds to transform the Web3 landscape. We believe that zero-knowledge proofs will play a crucial role in the future of Web3, and we are proud to support Ligero in their mission.”

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