ZeroRISC Raises $10M to Advance Open-Source Silicon Security in the Supply Chain

In a move that could reshape the future of hardware trust and transparency, ZeroRISC announced today that it has closed a $10 million seed round to commercialize its open-source silicon security platform. The round, led by Fontinalis Partners and joined by notable investors including Fundomo, Ray Stata, Dylan Patel, and others, underscores the growing momentum behind ZeroRISC’s mission: to deliver silicon-level security that doesn't rely on opaque vendor black boxes.

ZeroRISC is the brainchild of Dominic Rizzo, the original founder of [Google’s] OpenTitan project — the world’s first open-source silicon root of trust (RoT). Since spinning out in April 2023, the company has focused on scaling this once-academic idea into a production-ready security solution for modern hardware.

“Once considered a niche idea, open-source silicon is becoming an inevitability with the adoption of implementations like OpenTitan by Google,” Rizzo said. His vision is clear: eliminate reliance on unverified third-party firmware and give organizations the power to define and enforce their own hardware security policies — no matter where or by whom their devices are manufactured.

That philosophy forms the core of ZeroRISC’s Integrity Management Platform (IMP), a software-defined trust layer that decouples security from manufacturing geography. Rather than depending on physical custody or firmware from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ZeroRISC allows device operators — from IoT manufacturers to hyperscale data center providers — to retain cryptographic control of their hardware.

This has broad implications for a hardware supply chain increasingly under scrutiny for embedded threats. In a global landscape fraught with nation-state actors and shadowy firmware exploits, verifiability is the new security baseline. ZeroRISC answers that with a transparent, auditable architecture that begins its protection stack below the operating system — where even the most advanced software-based defenses often fall short.

“ZeroRISC is executing on a classic Silicon Valley playbook — the founder of an open-source project launches a startup to bring the technology to a broader universe of enterprise customers,” said Gabe Cunningham, Partner at Fontinalis. “Commercial open silicon can enable a new generation of secure-by-default devices.”

Beyond cloud infrastructure and edge computing, the startup’s ambitions reach into sectors grappling with AI manipulation and data provenance. “ZeroRISC will become a foundational requirement for future systems essential for combating AI deepfakes and similar threats by ensuring end-to-end attestation,” said Rajeev Surati of Fundomo.

The company’s traction isn’t just theoretical. In early 2024, ZeroRISC shipped its first commercial chip based on OpenTitan, manufactured by Nuvoton Technology. It marked a watershed moment: the first time an open-source root of trust reached mainstream availability — and proof that this vision of transparency can scale.

“ZeroRISC is making truly trustworthy supply chain security accessible to every organization and end customer, not just those with specialized hardware or significant budgets,” said Ray Stata, co-founder of Analog Devices. “This is a massive shift.”

With cyber insurance costs ballooning and regulators increasingly shifting liability to manufacturers, the timing may be just right. ZeroRISC gives CISOs and security architects a credible, controllable, and verifiable foundation for enforcing what software is allowed to run — long before an operating system ever boots.

The company is now offering early access to its production silicon and is in talks with OEMs, SoC vendors, and cloud providers to expand adoption.

From a moonshot idea to a cornerstone of future hardware design, ZeroRISC is betting that open-source roots of trust will be the new normal. And in today’s climate of escalating hardware threats, that bet looks increasingly prescient.