Sunscreen
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Sunscreen does
Sunscreen is a cryptography company founded in 2021 in San Francisco that translates frontier Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) research into production-ready developer tooling. Its core product, the Parasol compiler, is an LLVM-based 2nd-generation FHE compiler that lets developers write programs in C with simple directives marking encrypted inputs/outputs; Parasol is paired with a custom out-of-order virtual processor, a low-level TFHE library implementing Sunscreen's proprietary CBS-CMUX variant, and a Rust-based ZKP compiler that supports Bulletproofs and the SDLP proof system for proving ciphertext well-formedness. These components are packaged inside the Secure Processing Framework (SPF), an end-to-end stack spanning a core stack (compiler, processor, TFHE library), a control stack (threshold decryption network, access control, off-chain storage), and a data bus for on-chain interaction, designed so a single FHE program can be deployed across any blockchain.
The company primarily serves web3 developers and protocols building privacy-preserving applications such as sealed-bid auctions, dark pools, private token swaps, private DAO voting, and MEV mitigation on Ethereum, Cosmos, Polkadot, Solana, and Avalanche. Secondary segments include web2 enterprises in healthcare and finance that need confidential computation and end users of privacy-preserving applications. The go-to-market is community-led: an open-source distribution on GitHub, a browser-based playground, an active Discord, sponsorships at ETHGlobal, ZK Summit and Consensus, and an FHE grants program ($100-$100k across four categories) to seed developer adoption.
Sunscreen's revenue model is still emerging. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and the principal commercial path runs through the February 2026 production partnership with Lattica, which provides orchestration, compute allocation, key management, and monitoring around Parasol-compiled TFHE programs as a usage-based managed service. The grants program is explicitly non-revenue. As of the input data, total disclosed funding is approximately $5.22M (a $570K pre-seed in 2021 and a $4.65M seed in July 2022 led by Polychain Capital with Northzone, Coinbase Ventures, dao5, and Naval Ravikant), the team is five core members, no revenue figures are disclosed, and no customer logos are named.
Sunscreen firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sunscreen
- Legal name
- Sunscreen
- Website
- https://sunscreen.tech
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sunscreen industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cryptographic Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Privacy, Data Protection & Compliance (zk compliance, GDPR/PII handling) (FSAPAJAM)
Keywords
Where Sunscreen is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sunscreen business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Infrastructure / Managed Services: Through partnership with Lattica, Sunscreen provides the cryptographic engine (Parasol TFHE compiler and runtime) while Lattica handles orchestration, compute resource allocation, key management, and monitoring. This enables production deployment of TFHE programs as a managed cloud-native service.
- Developer Grants: Sunscreen runs a grants program ($100-$100k across four categories: walkthroughs, new apps, deployment/integrations, and cryptography R&D) to promote FHE development and adoption. This is a non-revenue investment in ecosystem development.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | FHE Grants Program - Walkthroughs |
| Other | Multi-year contract | FHE Grants Program - New Applications |
| Other | Multi-year contract | FHE Grants Program - Deployment and Integrations |
| Other | Multi-year contract | FHE Grants Program - Cryptography |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Lattica Partnership - TFHE Production |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Sunscreen product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sunscreen develops and distributes open-source developer tools for Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), led by the Parasol LLVM-based compiler and the Secure Processing Framework (SPF) that allow developers to write programs in C and deploy them across any blockchain while keeping inputs and outputs encrypted. The portfolio also includes a Rust-based ZKP compiler, a proprietary TFHE library, a custom virtual processor, threshold FHE implementations, and reference demos (private auctions, dark pools, private DNS lookups).
Product overview
Sunscreen is a cryptographic infrastructure company offering a suite of products centered on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). The flagship is the Parasol Compiler—an LLVM-based 2nd generation FHE compiler that lets developers write programs in C with encryption directives. This is packaged within the Secure Processing Framework (SPF), an end-to-end platform for creating, deploying, and using FHE programs on any blockchain. Complementary products include a ZKP Compiler (Rust-based DSL supporting R1CS/Bulletproofs), a custom Virtual Processor for optimized FHE execution, and a low-level TFHE Library implementing Sunscreen's optimized variant of TFHE. The company also maintains a 1st generation BFV-based FHE compiler. Infrastructure deployment is enabled through partnership with Lattica. Demos include a Private Auction application, Dark Pool Demo, and PirDNS Demo.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Parasol: Sunscreen's LLVM-based FHE compiler that allows developers to write programs in C and specify which inputs should be encrypted. Parasol forms the foundation of the Secure Processing Framework (SPF).
- Secure Processing Framework (SPF)
- Sunscreen Grants Program
Products and services
- Secure Processing Framework (SPF)
- Parasol Compiler
- ZKP Compiler
Quantifiable outcome
- Winner determination in <2 seconds over 93 encrypted bids on 64-core machine
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Sunscreen
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Sunscreen technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature9 records
Sunscreen partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- LatticacoreSunscreen's Parasol TFHE compiler and runtime provide the cryptographic engine (transforming C programs into encrypted computation). Lattica provides the production infrastructure layer: orchestration and workflow automation, compute resource allocation, key management, and monitoring. The partnership enables a 4-step workflow: compile with Sunscreen locally, deploy to Lattica's platform, configure access and resources, then accept encrypted queries. Combined offering announced February 2026.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Sunscreen competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Zama: Zama builds the Concrete FHE compiler and FHENIX blockchain for confidential smart contracts. It is the most direct technical competitor to Sunscreen's Parasol compiler, offering an LLVM-based TFHE toolchain and ML-focused FHE libraries.
- Inpher: Inpher offers an enterprise FHE platform (XOR Platform) for privacy-preserving analytics and machine learning. It targets the same private-computation use cases Sunscreen addresses but with a focus on regulated enterprises rather than web3 developers.
- Duality Technologies: Duality Technologies provides FHE-based secure data collaboration for enterprises and governments, leveraging OpenFHE. It competes for the same privacy-preserving computation budget as Sunscreen, particularly for enterprise analytics and ML use cases.
- Enveil: Enveil uses FHE to enable secure search and analytics over encrypted data. It addresses similar encrypted-computation workloads as Sunscreen but targets enterprise security teams rather than web3 developers.
- Niobium: Niobium offers FHE-as-a-service for machine learning inference and analytics. It is comparable to Sunscreen in offering managed FHE compute, though focused on web2 inference workloads rather than blockchain-integrated privacy.
- Fhenix: Fhenix is a confidentiality-focused L2 leveraging Zama's FHE technology for private smart contracts. It targets the same web3 privacy market as Sunscreen's SPF but at the blockchain-L2 layer rather than as a developer compiler.
- Inco Network: Inco Network is a modular confidential computing network using FHE for private smart contracts across chains. It overlaps with Sunscreen's cross-chain privacy positioning and serves the same web3 developer audience.
- Secret Network: Secret Network provides privacy-preserving smart contracts using TEE-based secure enclaves. It competes with Sunscreen for the same confidential DeFi use cases, though using hardware-based rather than FHE-based privacy.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft (SEAL): Microsoft develops the SEAL homomorphic encryption library and related research as part of its broader cloud and security portfolio. It is a foundational reference implementation that Parasol benchmarks against, and represents the incumbent open-source alternative.
- Google (FHE Transpiler): Google's FHE Transpiler is an open-source tool for converting programs to run on encrypted data. Sunscreen explicitly benchmarks against it, and it represents a well-resourced incumbent with potential to encroach on Parasol's developer tooling niche.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Sunscreen social profiles
Digital presenceSunscreen financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sunscreen leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Sunscreen funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sunscreen M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sunscreen
What does Sunscreen do?
Sunscreen develops and distributes open-source developer tools for Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), led by the Parasol LLVM-based compiler and the Secure Processing Framework (SPF) that allow developers to write programs in C and deploy them across any blockchain while keeping inputs and outputs encrypted. The portfolio also includes a Rust-based ZKP compiler, a proprietary TFHE library, a custom virtual processor, threshold FHE implementations, and reference demos (private auctions, dark pools, private DNS lookups).
Is Sunscreen a public or private company?
Sunscreen is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Sunscreen founded?
Sunscreen was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Sunscreen based?
Sunscreen is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Sunscreen make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Infrastructure / Managed Services are the primary driver. The others are developer Grants.
Who are Sunscreen's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Zama, Inpher, Duality Technologies, Enveil, Niobium, Fhenix, Inco Network and Secret Network. Broad incumbents are Microsoft (SEAL) and Google (FHE Transpiler).
Does Sunscreen have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sunscreen.
What industry is Sunscreen in?
Sunscreen's product category is Cryptographic Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAPAJAM, Privacy, Data Protection & Compliance (zk compliance, GDPR/PII handling). Its NAICS code is 5132.