A year and a half ago, this project was born, but only much later did we decide to build a company out of a simple mission: build a great crypto wallet.
Why another wallet?
The market does not lack solutions. On the contrary, there are software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, vaults, hosted custody. But there is no great solution. To be able to use a crypto wallet you either need a good dose of Xanax or a master’s degree in computer science or both, unless you want to depend on a central entity, which is even worse as the news are reminding us weekly.
We wanted for ourselves and for the world something that did not feel like a pre-AOL experience, that was incredibly superior in terms of security *and* simple to use. We wanted a solution that brings peace of mind and that did not force the user into compromising between convenience and security which is, unfortunately, the current state of affairs. We quickly realized that this mission would not be possible to achieve with the same tools and ideas other companies tried to use so far. Based on the belief that crypto wallets are central to a crypto economy and one of the foundational layers of a vibrant ecosystem, we felt it was an important endeavour.
Before committing to building this company we wanted to make sure we had something unique, relevant and exciting. We needed to enable a beautiful user experience with a new security paradigm and cutting-edge cryptography. And we found it: a new way to generate and manage private keys that would reduce significantly and even fix the problems of security breaches and human error, and that would enable us to build a delightful user experience where the wallet is the beginning of any crypto journey: interacting with an exchange, a Dapp, a smart contract, collectibles, and much more.
At the beginning of 2018, we realized we could build something on par with this vision but that it would require a solid team and sufficient resources. We considered the option of an ICO and quickly discarded it because it did not make any sense (and thank god, we made the right choice). So we went the “old way” and decided to find investors aligned with our vision and in parallel, we searched for unique talents sharing our passion of products well built and deep belief in the crypto industry. That path was tested by the strong correction of the market of the last months but it has served as an important challenge to gauge our determination.
Fuelling our dream
Today we are thrilled to announce a seed round of $4 million led by Benson Oak Ventures, and a number of other great investors: Elron, Samsung NEXT, FJ Labs, Collider VC, BlockNation. We are happy to welcome also angel investors like Jonathan Smith (co-founder of Civic), Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, JeanDavid Blanc and more. It was important for us to be in business with people who connected well with us and the mission. Joining our board will be Robert Cohen from Benson Oak Ventures, who invested early and played a key role in establishing AVG as one of the largest consumer security brands in the world. From our office in Israel, with the help of a great investor consortium, we are excited to bring the wallet the world needs and will love using. We are laser focused on shipping just that.
Next up, shipping
In the coming weeks, we will announce more details. For now, we are building (buiDling some would say) our solution soon to be released, but you can keep up to date by following this blog or subscribing to our newsletter.
If you are part of the crypto industry: as a blockchain operator, exchange, miner, or developer, we are interested in building a relationship or maybe even hiring you. We were already awarded R&D grants from leading blockchain projects like Zilliqa and Tezos. Please get in touch [[email protected]]
Ouriel, Omer, Tal, Gary.
KZen Networks co-founders
