As deepfakes, phishing scams, and identity theft become more sophisticated by the day, TransCrypts is tackling the problem at its root: verification. Founded by Zain Zaidi, the company has built a blockchain-powered platform that puts individuals—not corporations—in control of their own digital credentials. And investors are taking note. TransCrypts just raised a $15 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Alpha Edison, Mark Cuban, and others.
The idea is simple but powerful: instead of relying on slow, compliance-heavy third parties to prove who you are, users can now verify identity and credentials instantly, securely, and on their own terms.
“AI is creating a world where we need to verify information and identity in real time,” said Zaidi. “The only way to do that is consumer-empowered verifications.”
TransCrypts started with employment data and is now expanding into healthcare records, education credentials, and other high-stakes data categories. By splitting cryptographic keys between a user’s device and its own servers, TransCrypts ensures no central authority ever holds full access to a person’s identity.
Why Tech Investors Are Paying Attention
The digital identity space is heating up fast and TransCrypts isn’t just riding the wave, it’s helping shape it. With the credit bureau market valued at $125 billion and growing, even a modest shift toward decentralized, user-owned verification could shake up an industry long dominated by incumbents like Equifax and TransUnion.
The company’s model aligns with the Web3 ethos of self-sovereign identity, and its use cases are expanding quickly from fraud prevention to credit scoring to compliance. It’s one of the few startups offering real-time, cryptographically secure verification in a market increasingly defined by trust issues.
For now, TransCrypts is private. But whether you’re an investor, founder, or enterprise buyer, it’s a name worth remembering.
Read more on The Globe and Mail
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