Self, a company specialising in zero-knowledge identity and proof-of-humanity infrastructure, has raised $9m in a seed round.
The firmbuilds systems that confirm user identity and uniqueness without exposing sensitive data.
The seed round attracted investment from Greenfield Capital, Startup Capital Ventures x SBI Fund (SoftBank), Spearhead VC, Verda Ventures, Fireweed Ventures and prominent angel investors. These included Casey Neistat and several notable Web3 figures such as EigenLayer’s Sreeram Kannan, Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal, Curve’s Julien Bouteloup, Espresso’s Jill Carlson and Across Protocol’s Hart Lambur.
Self’s infrastructure uses zero-knowledge proofs and verifiable credentials to allow individuals to prove characteristics such as age, nationality or residency without disclosing underlying personal information.
The platform supports onboarding through biometric passports and national ID cards across more than 160 jurisdictions, and more recently through India’s Aadhaar system, which covers over 1.4 billion people. The company has also introduced Self Connect, a lightweight verification tool based on mobile phone numbers, aimed at streamlining access for users and developers.
Self CEO and co-founder Eric Nakagawa said, “Self was born out of the need for secure, privacy-preserving humanity and identity verification, and the growing adoption of our infrastructure validates that zk-powered solutions are the answer.
“We’re proud that our mission resonates with the best companies in the industry, and appreciative of their support in scaling Self to power the future of the internet. I am excited to work with the many builders that are already integrating and developing cool features and products with Self.”
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