Axiom
Axiom builds zero-knowledge proof infrastructure for developers: OpenVM, an open-source modular zkVM framework, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted cloud service for GPU-accelerated ZK proof generation serving rollup teams, Ethereum L1 proving workloads, and ZK-enabled application developers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Axiom does
Axiom (legal entity: Intrinsic Technologies) is a zero-knowledge proof infrastructure company founded in 2022 and headquartered in New York. It operates a two-product platform: OpenVM, an open-source modular zkVM framework co-developed with Scroll and distributed under MIT/Apache 2.0, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted REST API for cloud-based ZK proof generation with GPU acceleration and a Rust SDK and CLI. The company's core technical differentiator is a no-CPU zkVM architecture that decouples the execution trace from ZK circuits, paired with the proprietary SWIRL proof system, enabling real-time Ethereum mainnet block proving at p99 7.9 seconds on 16 NVIDIA 5090 GPUs with proof sizes under 300 kB and 100-bit provable security backed by formal verification in Lean (performed by Nethermind Research with an Ethereum Foundation grant).
The company serves developers and infrastructure teams building ZK-enabled applications, with named enterprise customers including Scroll (using OpenVM in its Euclid upgrade to a Type 1 zkEVM), Lighter (building Lighter EVM on OpenVM 2.0), and EthProofs (real-time Ethereum block proving). The Axiom Proving API is the sole revenue stream, charging usage-based fees tied to GPU compute consumed, with publicly disclosed cost benchmarks of $0.0003 per Ethereum mainnet transaction (v1.4.0) and $0.01 per block (OpenVM 2.0 Beta). The API is currently available by invitation only, and the go-to-market is product-led, distributed through self-serve documentation, GitHub, Discord, Telegram, and direct engagement with early partners; no field sales or channel partner motion is in use.
Axiom has raised $20 million in Series A funding (January 2024) led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto, with participation from Robot Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, and a syndicate of strategic angels from Scroll, OpenSea, EigenLabs, Optimism, Polygon, and Aztec. The company is privately held, venture-backed, and has a small 1-10 person team, with use of proceeds explicitly directed toward team expansion and platform acceleration.
Axiom firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Axiom
- Legal name
- Intrinsic Technologies
- Website
- https://axiom.xyz
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Axiom builds zero-knowledge proof infrastructure for developers: OpenVM, an open-source modular zkVM framework, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted cloud service for GPU-accelerated ZK proof generation serving rollup teams, Ethereum L1 proving workloads, and ZK-enabled application developers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Axiom industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Zero-Knowledge Proof Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI) (FSAPABAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Smart Contract Security Tooling (static/dynamic analysis, formal verification) (FSAPABAI), Smart Contract Auditing & Formal Verification (FSAPAJAA), Layer 2 Scaling & Rollups (optimistic/ZK, sequencers, DA usage) (FSAPAAAB)
Keywords
Where Axiom is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Axiom business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Axiom Proving API - Usage-based Proof Generation: Developers pay to generate ZK proofs via the Axiom Proving API. Pricing is based on compute resources consumed including GPU time, with per-transaction costs as low as $0.0003 per Ethereum mainnet block transaction at scale. The API is usage-based with pay-as-you-go consumption for proof generation workloads.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | OpenVM v1.0.0 proving at $0.0015 per transaction on CPU |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | OpenVM v1.4.0 GPU proving at $0.0003 per transaction |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | OpenVM 2.0 Beta at $0.01 per Ethereum mainnet block |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Axiom product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Axiom provides zero-knowledge (ZK) proof infrastructure for Ethereum and blockchain applications. Its core offerings are OpenVM, an open-source modular zkVM framework that lets developers write programs in Rust and verify their execution with ZK proofs onchain, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted cloud service that generates ZK proofs for OpenVM programs at scale using GPU acceleration. Together these products enable rollups, verifiable AI, and other applications to access production-ready ZK proving without managing specialized hardware.
Product overview
Axiom provides ZK (zero-knowledge) infrastructure tools comprising two main products: OpenVM, a modular zkVM framework that enables developers to make any Rust program verifiable using ZK proofs, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted cloud service that handles OpenVM configuration, reproducible builds, and proof generation at scale. The product architecture allows developers to write programs in Rust, compile them using OpenVM's RISC-V toolchain, and generate proofs via the Axiom Proving API with GPU acceleration for production use cases including Ethereum L1 scaling, rollup security, and verifiable AI applications.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- OpenVM: The modular zkVM framework for custom ZK applications. An open-source zero-knowledge virtual machine framework focused on modularity at every level of the stack.
- Axiom Proving API
Products and services
- OpenVM OpenVM is an open-source modular zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) framework that lets developers write programs in Rust, compile them to RISC-V, and generate ZK proofs verifying the execution of those programs. It features a no-CPU architecture, custom VM extensions without forking core libraries, RISC-V (RV32IM) toolchain support, and Solidity verifier support for onchain EVM verification.
- Axiom Proving API The Axiom Proving API is a hosted REST cloud service that performs OpenVM configuration, reproducible builds, and proof generation at scale for ZK-enabled applications. It provides GPU-accelerated, distributed multi-GPU proving so developers can generate ZK proofs quickly and cheaply without managing their own ZK infrastructure, with capability to prove Ethereum mainnet for under $0.001 per transaction at scale.
Quantifiable outcome
- Proving Ethereum mainnet for under $0.001 per transaction
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use Axiom
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Axiom technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature9 records
Axiom partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Nethermind ResearchcoreFormally verified the OpenVM RV32IM extension in Lean, proving functional correctness against official SAIL RISC-V specifications. This verification covered all 45 RV32IM opcodes and uncovered no ZK circuit bugs, providing mathematical proof guarantees for OpenVM's correctness.
- LightercoreCollaboration to build Lighter EVM, an EVM-equivalent rollup that natively accesses Lighter's perps and spot markets. Axiom implements custom OpenVM extensions adapted to Lighter's Plonky2 proof system for performant recursive aggregation of existing Lighter proofs within OpenVM. Powered by OpenVM 2.0.
- ScrollcoreCo-developed OpenVM with Axiom from inception. Scroll uses OpenVM in its Euclid mainnet upgrade to become a Stage 1 rollup with a Type 1 zkEVM, supporting EIP-7702 and RIP-7212. Scroll has been an early collaborator on the no-CPU zkVM architecture since 2024.
- Max GillettminorIndividual contributor to OpenVM development, collaborating with Axiom and Scroll on the modular zkVM framework design.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Axiom competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Succinct Labs: Succinct develops SP1, an open-source zkVM, alongside the Succinct Prover Network for decentralized proof generation. It targets the same ZK developer tooling and managed proving use cases as Axiom.
- RISC Zero: RISC Zero builds a general-purpose zkVM (RISC-V based) and a managed proving service (Bonsai). It is the closest direct competitor to Axiom's OpenVM + Axiom Proving API combination and serves the same developer segment building ZK-enabled applications.
- Polygon Miden: Polygon Miden is a STARK-based zkVM rollup with a custom VM (Miden VM). While tightly coupled to Polygon's stack, it competes in the same zkVM-for-rollups and zkVM-for-developers category.
- Cysic: Cysic builds ZK proof acceleration hardware and a decentralized prover network, directly attacking the cost-and-latency economics that Axiom's GPU-based Proving API is optimized for.
Broad incumbents
- Aztec Network: Aztec builds a privacy-focused ZK rollup (Aztec Noir / Ignition) using its own proving infrastructure. It is comparable in building ZK-first developer platforms but at a more application-specific layer.
- zkSync (Matter Labs): Matter Labs operates zkSync Era, a ZK rollup using its own zk circuits and proving stack. It is a larger, established incumbent in the ZK L2 space and a potential alternative integrator for developers Axiom targets.
- StarkWare: StarkWare builds the STARK-based Cairo VM and Starknet, plus the StarkEx L2 scaling engine. It is a broader incumbent in ZK rollup infrastructure that overlaps with Axiom's rollup-proving use cases.
- O(1) Labs (Mina Protocol): O(1) Labs develops the Mina Protocol, a ZK-based succinct blockchain with its own proof system (Kimchi/Pickles). Comparable as a ZK infrastructure project though focused on chain-level rather than general-purpose zkVM proving.
Others
- Scroll: Scroll is both Axiom's deepest design partner (co-developer of OpenVM and integrator on Euclid) and a potential competitor: as a zkEVM with its own proving roadmap, Scroll could internalize proving if economics shift.
Emerging players
- Zircuit: Zircuit is a ZK rollup that has built and operates its own proving infrastructure. It is comparable as a ZK-first rollup evaluating (and potentially competing with) Axiom's proving API for its own proving needs.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Axiom social profiles
Digital presenceAxiom compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Axiom financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Axiom leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Axiom funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Axiom 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 Axiom
What does Axiom do?
Axiom provides zero-knowledge (ZK) proof infrastructure for Ethereum and blockchain applications. Its core offerings are OpenVM, an open-source modular zkVM framework that lets developers write programs in Rust and verify their execution with ZK proofs onchain, and the Axiom Proving API, a hosted cloud service that generates ZK proofs for OpenVM programs at scale using GPU acceleration. Together these products enable rollups, verifiable AI, and other applications to access production-ready ZK proving without managing specialized hardware.
Is Axiom a public or private company?
Axiom is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Axiom founded?
Axiom was founded in 2022. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Axiom based?
Axiom is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Axiom make money?
One revenue line is on record: axiom Proving API - Usage-based Proof Generation.
Who are Axiom's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Succinct Labs, RISC Zero, Polygon Miden and Cysic. Broad incumbents are Aztec Network, zkSync (Matter Labs), StarkWare and O(1) Labs (Mina Protocol). Scroll is listed as an others. Zircuit is listed as an emerging player.
Does Axiom have an API?
Yes. The Axiom Proving API is a REST API (available at api.axiom.xyz/v1) that enables developers to generate ZK proofs for applications built with OpenVM. It supports OpenVM Deployment (key generation and configuration, generation of smart contract verifiers), OpenVM Program Deployment (reproducible builds and artifact management), and Proof Generation and Verification. Authentication is via Axiom-API-Key header. The API is currently available to invited users only. A CLI tool (cargo-axiom) and Rust Client SDK are provided for interacting with the API. A web console is available at prove.axiom.xyz. Developer documentation is at docs.axiom.xyz.
What industry is Axiom in?
Axiom's product category is Zero-Knowledge Proof Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAPABAG, Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI), with a secondary code of FSAPABAI, Smart Contract Security Tooling (static/dynamic analysis, formal verification). Its NAICS code is 541512 and its SIC code is 7371.