Austrian Crypto Startup TACEO Raises $5.5M to Scale Encrypted Collaboration Platform

Austrian crypto startup TACEO has secured $5.5 million in seed funding, led by Archetype VC, with participation from a16z, CSX, Cyber.Fund, a_capital, and Polymorphic Capital [1]. The funding follows a previous seven-figure pre-seed round and will be used to scale the company’s “Private Shared State” platform, which enables secure computation, verification, and updates on encrypted data without exposing sensitive information or relying on centralized trust [2]. Founded in 2022, TACEO is the product of research at Graz University of Technology and the Know-Centre, led by Professor Christian Rechberger, who is known for developing the Poseidon hash function used in zero-knowledge cryptography [3]. The company’s technology combines Multiparty Computation (MPC) and coSNARKs to facilitate secure, encrypted collaboration across multiple parties.

TACEO’s solutions are already in use, including in biometric authentication for 14 million users through Sam Altman’s World ID initiative. With 14 employees from six countries and a team comprising cryptography researchers, systems engineers, and business strategists, the startup is focusing on real-world applications in finance, identity verification, and AI. The funding will accelerate infrastructure improvements, scalability, and the development of tools like coNoir to ease integration without requiring advanced cryptographic expertise [3].

The company aims to create a scalable infrastructure for dynamic and secure data sharing across decentralized systems while maintaining regulatory compliance and privacy. TACEO’s approach is designed to resolve the tension between privacy and transparency in industries such as decentralized finance and identity management [3]. Its leadership includes co-founder and CEO Lukas Helminger, a former cryptography researcher and lecturer, and co-founder Lukas Goetz, a veteran in blockchain innovation.

While TACEO faces competition from firms like Zama, Duality Tech, Fhenix, Partisia, and Rosemanlabs, its unique strength lies in its ability to manage mutable, verifiable, and encrypted collaboration over time, supported by large-scale deployment experience. The company plans to position its “Private Shared State” as a foundational internet primitive, promote open ecosystem development, and set new standards in secure data collaboration [3].

This latest funding round represents a pivotal moment for TACEO as it seeks to redefine how privacy and collaboration coexist in digital systems. As CEO Helminger noted, the investment will allow the team to scale the technology, expand the workforce, and grow the network to make a privacy-first future a reality [3].

Source:

[1] AInvest – [https://www.ainvest.com/news/taceo-raises-5-5m-seed-scale-encrypted-data-collaboration-platform-2508/](https://www.ainvest.com/news/taceo-raises-5-5m-seed-scale-encrypted-data-collaboration-platform-2508/)

[2] MEXC – [https://www.mexc.com/news/crypto-startup-taceo-completes-5-5-million-seed-round-with-participation-from-a16z-and-csx/63165](https://www.mexc.com/news/crypto-startup-taceo-completes-5-5-million-seed-round-with-participation-from-a16z-and-csx/63165)

[3] Tech – [https://techfundingnews.com/taceo-5-5m-seed-private-shared-state-secure-data-collaboration/](https://techfundingnews.com/taceo-5-5m-seed-private-shared-state-secure-data-collaboration/)