Nexus Laboratories is a virtual machine—software that emulates a physical computer—that wants to bolster trust in the internet. To do so, Nexus is betting on a species of cryptography called "zero-knowledge proofs," or zk-proofs, which allow one party to prove to another that a piece of data is true, without conveying the underlying data. A simple analogy: a driver's-license scanner that reveals someone is 21 without disclosing their name or address. Nexus believes zk-proofs are powerful and wants to make them accessible to any developer.
Nexus took a step towards that goal on Monday, announcing it has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital. Faction Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, and Blockchain Builders Fund also participated, bringing the company’s total funding to $27.2 million.
