Belfort Raises $6M for Hardware-Accelerated Encrypted Computing
Belfort, a KU Leuven spin-off specializing in encrypted computation technology, has closed a $6 million seed funding round led by Vsquared Ventures. The investment, which includes backing from Anagram, Protocol VC, Inovia Capital, and notable angels like Google’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean and Naval Ravikant, will fuel the company’s mission to make encrypted data processing viable for real-time enterprise applications.
The funding arrives amid escalating cybersecurity concerns, highlighted by recent breaches like the UK Ministry of Defence incident affecting nearly 19,000 individuals. Traditional security methods protect data at rest or in transit, but Belfort addresses the critical vulnerability during data processing—when information is typically exposed.
Revolutionary Hardware Solution Eliminates Performance Barriers
Belfort has developed the world’s first purpose-built hardware accelerator for encrypted compute, enabling sensitive data to be processed while remaining encrypted. This breakthrough eliminates the performance bottlenecks that have historically prevented widespread adoption of encrypted computation, making large-scale, real-time deployment feasible across industries including blockchain, finance, healthcare, and government.
The technology is already available on AWS Marketplace, allowing enterprises to integrate secure computation into existing infrastructure. “AI is transforming everything, but the infrastructure to keep sensitive data and models secure hasn’t caught up,” said Michiel Van Beirendonck, Co-Founder and CEO.
Academic Excellence Meets Commercial Innovation
Founded by researchers from KU Leuven’s renowned COSIC lab, Belfort combines deep academic expertise with commercial vision. The team includes Prof. Ingrid Verbauwhede, a global authority in cryptographic hardware, alongside co-founders Michiel Van Beirendonck, Furkan Turan, and Laurens De Poorter, former crypto VC at Kraken Ventures.
With support from ERC research grants and participation in a DARPA contract, Belfort is expanding operations across San Francisco and Leuven, accelerating product development and launching enterprise pilot programs.