Privacy-focused blockchain and artificial intelligence startup Auradine has raised $81 million in Series A funding led by venture capital firms Celesta Capital and Mayfield. The company says it is developing "breakthrough scalability, sustainability, and security solutions."
Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings also invested in Auradine’s Series A, alongside Stanford University, Cota Capital, and DCVC. The company is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and has more than 40 employees—including software engineers and cybersecurity professionals from companies like Palo Alto Networks, Marvell, Intel, Google, and Wells Fargo.
"The team has a sustained track record of delivering market-leading products that have generated over $10 billion in revenues at multi-billion infrastructure companies and unicorns," according to the Auradine website.
What You Need to Know About the Bitcoin 'Privacy War'
If you've been anywhere near Twitter recently you might have noticed Bitcoiners furiously debating Bitcoin privacy ins and outs. This feud has colloquially become known as the Bitcoin "privacy war." Bitcoin isn't private by default. Because Bitcoin's transaction history is open for the world to see, users need to take the time to learn and use certain tools and wallets, if they want to fully privatize their Bitcoin. Two of the most popular wallets out there today that make it easy for users to s...
“Our first product is going to be a system-level solution with software and cloud management capabilities, focusing on blockchain security applications,” Auradine co-founder and CEO Rajiv Khemani told Decrypt. “These are going to be for deployment in data center environments. We’ll sell to large enterprises that will house them in data centers.”
Auradine expects to announce its first product this summer and will focus on serving clients in the financial and healthcare sectors, among other industries.
“Our vision long-term is pretty broad.” Khemani added. “As you look at internet infrastructure, we think blockchain security and privacy have a very broad area we can target, certainly we’ll have massive implications in the financial sector.”
The company’s name derives from combining Aurum, the Latin word for gold, and Dyne, a measurement unit of force. “We combined it to make it like a force of gold, and the .com name was available with an ‘i’ — so that’s how the name came about,” Khemani said.
Khemani was previously the co-founder and CEO of Innovium, a silicon chip-maker for cloud data companies. In 2021, semiconductor giant Marvell Technology acquired Innovium for a reported $1.1 billion.
“In that company [Innovium] and a couple other prior companies we would sell chips,” Khemani said. “In [Auradine’s] instance, we are not selling chips. We’re selling system-level solutions coupled with software, and we’ll also sell cloud software as a service type offerings.”
Bitcoin’s Privacy Problem—And What Cypherpunks Are Doing to Solve It
As the U.S. government ramps up its crypto regulatory efforts, it is targeting privacy-protecting projects like never before. The crypto community is worried—especially the cypherpunks—and users are currently grappling with the implications of the Tornado Cash ban and how it may be enforced in practice. But behind the scenes, Bitcoin developers have for years now been working to preserve privacy when transacting with crypto. "The targeting of an open-source protocol (as opposed to a person) is c...
Celesta Capital managing partner Sriram Viswanathan and Mayfield’s managing director Navin Chaddha have joined Auradine’s board as part of their investments in the startup. Mayfield recently announced that it has raised a total of $955 million across its two VC funds.
"The Auradine team of bold entrepreneurs are building a web infrastructure platform that will enable a new era of decentralized and distributed applications," Chaddha said in a statement. "We are excited to serve as inception investor on their journey to leverage AI, blockchain, and privacy technologies to help create an industry leader.”
