Crypto Lab

About Crypto Lab

Based in Seoul, South Korea, CryptoLab Inc. is a technology firm at the forefront of homomorphic encryption. Founded in 2017 by Jung Hee Cheon, a professor at Seoul National University, the company was established to commercialize advanced cryptographic theories into practical security solutions. Cheon is a notable figure in the field, credited as an inventor of the Cheon-Kim-Kim-Song (CKKS) scheme, a fourth-generation homomorphic encryption technology that uniquely supports computations on real numbers, which is essential for AI and machine learning applications. The company originated as the first startup to be incubated by the Seoul National University Industrial Mathematics Center.

CryptoLab's core business revolves around developing and providing software and tools based on homomorphic encryption. This technology allows for computation on encrypted data without needing to decrypt it first, thereby offering a robust solution to data privacy and security challenges. The firm's business model centers on licensing its proprietary technologies and providing solutions to enterprise clients, particularly in sectors where data sensitivity is paramount, such as healthcare, finance, and government. For instance, the company is collaborating with the Korean government to implement a homomorphic encryption-based solution for its "Digital Platform Government" initiative, which handles public data related to taxes and education. CryptoLab generates revenue through contracts and partnerships, such as the three-year supply contract with Macrogen, a genetic analysis company, to integrate CryptoLab's technology into their personalized genomic analysis services.

The company's flagship product is its high-performance homomorphic encryption library, "HEaaN". This library implements the CKKS scheme and is marketed as being significantly faster than competing open-source libraries. CryptoLab offers several solutions built upon this technology, including the 'HEaaN Genome Analysis Solution' and 'Encrypted Vector Search (ES2)'. In 2021, the company launched "Cordong-I," a mobile application developed with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency that used homomorphic encryption for COVID-19 contact tracing while preserving user location privacy. More recently, CryptoLab has focused on privacy-preserving generative AI, partnering with UClone to create AI agents that utilize homomorphic encryption to protect user data during processing. The company has successfully raised $16.2 million in a Series A funding round led by Stonebridge Capital, with participation from other investors like LG U+ and Altos Ventures.