Belfort Launches Hardware Accelerator for Encrypted Compute

Belfort, a spin-off from KU Leuven, has announced the launch of the world's first hardware accelerator designed for encrypted compute, as well as the successful close of a $6 million seed funding round. The funding was led by deep-tech specialist Vsquared Ventures, with participation from several other investors, including high-profile figures like Google's Chief Scientist Jeff Dean and Naval Ravikant. This financial boost will enable Belfort to expand its team, advance product development, and support early enterprise pilots in its San Francisco and Leuven offices, announced in a press release.

Belfort's technology allows for data processing without decryption, addressing the need for secure data handling in various sectors such as blockchain, finance, healthcare, and government operations. The hardware accelerator removes performance barriers traditionally associated with encrypted computation, making large-scale deployment feasible. Already available on AWS Marketplace, this innovation is built on years of research from KU Leuven's COSIC lab, led by Prof. Ingrid Verbauwhede, a global authority in cryptographic hardware.

The founding team includes Laurens De Poorter, Dr. Furkan Turan, Michiel Van Beirendonck, and Prof. Ingrid Verbauwhede, who bring extensive experience from organizations like Google[x], Intel, Microsoft Research, and Rambus. Their work has been supported by major European Research Council grants and a competitive U.S. government contract with DARPA.