NEBRA, an English crypto startup, has successfully completed a $4.5 million fundraising round that combines Pre-Seed and Seed stages. The round was led by Nascent and Bankless, with support from notable angels such as Tim Beiko from Ethereum Foundation, Kartik Talwar from ETHGlobal, Nick White from Celestia, Sandy Peng, and Haichen Shen from Scroll. Additionally, NEBRA has received funding from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator as a member of the CSX Spring 2024 cohort in London.
The primary focus of NEBRA is on researching and developing strategies for enhancing the privacy and scalability of blockchain technology through zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). These ZKPs have the potential to improve on-chain privacy, which is essential for the scalability of blockchains. However, current technologies are costly, with Ethereum ecosystem users collectively spending over $50 million in gas fees.
The raised funds will be used for further research into the Shared Settlement Layer (SSL) of the new internet. This research aims to address the high cost of proof settlement on Ethereum and other blockchains by advancing ZKP technology. During a stress test in 2023, NEBRA demonstrated impressive resilience by processing 1,000,000 proofs within 36 hours, achieving a throughput of 10 proofs per second with an average verification latency of around 2 minutes.
NEBRA co-founder Dan Elitzer stated that the company aims to revolutionize ZKP settlements in the blockchain ecosystem, similar to how Google transformed information access and Uber changed urban mobility. NEBRA seeks to become the leading platform for those looking for cost-effective and efficient ZKP settlement solutions across blockchains.