Ledger — Because the physical world needs to trust the Blockchain
Tags: Venture Capital, Startup, Fintech, Bitcoin, Blockchain

writer : Cyril Bertrand

Today, Ledger announces a €7M series A. We are delighted to renew our trust after a first seed investment of 1M$ in 2015 and to invest more than prorata to double our investment. We warmly welcome MAIF on board as one of the most active insurance players in the French startup ecosystem and are also thrilled to have business leaders like Pascal Gauthier (ex Criteo COO) and Fred Potter (CEO Netatmo) on board with us.

Let’s go back a bit. Ledger is born from the merger of Epic Dream, BTChip and RadioceRos Ledger more than two years ago. This birth in itself is noteworthy: it is not so frequent to see four entrepreneurs from three different startups accept that they will need to join forces and share their capital. This level of maturity was certainly a major part of our initial investment decision back in 2015.

Ledger’s competitive edge is its technology: a small-footprint crypto-embedded operating system which enables full orchestration of kernel and apps directly from the physical layer. This allows them to be sold all around the world — particularly in Silicon Valley and China.

Ledger offers a line of security products, all of them based on the same core system of software and hardware: Personal Security Devices for B2C end users, Hardware Security Modules for B2B servers and Hardware Oracles for connected objects, machines and IoT. That’s a broad range of use cases, so how can the same technology be so versatile?

Making Bitcoin accessible to non tech-savvy people.

We have all wanted to try Bitcoin but whoever has tried will probably remember the first obstacle: this universe was created by software rebels for themselves. For the non expert the first few steps can be a little rough. Then comes security worries: where to store my personal private keys, how to keep them secure. To solve these issues, Ledger has developed Nano: a bitcoin wallet on a smartcard device. Put simply, this device is the merger of a USB drive with a credit card: it keeps the private keys far from hackers and ensures the physical presence of the user. It goes without saying: the hardware is small (it fits in your hand), very light and connects directly to a USB or Bluetooth port — such as your computer or your smartphone. Beyond making safe payments, this trust layer between the IT system and the physical world can be backed up and restored if your Nano is lost or stolen.

In contrast to re-centralized Bitcoin storage and exchanges, which recreated something very close to a bank, Ledger’s mission is to make the initial spirit of Bitcoin come true: provide users with a secure control over their monies and carry their bitcoins in their pocket.

Individually measuring your renewable energy

Beyond Bitcoin, Ledger leverages its technology to tackle industrial markets, particularly the cleantech production units, which are increasingly decentralized: this is a natural fit for the equally decentralized DNA of the Blockchain model. Ledger brings a secure key management to any business implementing a blockchain-based solution for its back office and wishing to delegate key management to a server. For example, a photovoltaic production unit can individually measure how much renewable energy was generated before it is put on the grid via a fully decentralized, unbreakable and authenticated sensor that measures in kilowatts the amount of renewable energy produced.

This solution can also be applied to any cryptocurrency exchanges, digital identity and settlement custodians.

Ledger is one of the (very) few profitable blockchain companies in the world. The €7M raised today will go towards building a bizdev team as well as a product management team and continuing investing in R&D.

Ledger have 30 employees with offices in Paris, Vierzon and San Francisco. They have developed a unique expertise in embedded OS, secure hardware, cryptography and blockchain. So ready for the next generation of secure embedded devices?