FOAM

What FOAM does

FOAM (legal entity Foamspace Corp) is a Brooklyn-based, private protocol company founded in 2015 that builds a decentralized, GPS-independent location verification network on the Ethereum blockchain. Its core technology uses LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) radio nodes called Zone Anchors — PCB-stack devices with battery, LTE modem, and dual antennas — coordinated to transceive LoRa packets, with time-of-flight triangulation enabled by Byzantine Fault Tolerant clock synchronization across nodes. Groups of at least four synchronized Zone Anchors form "Zones" that stake FOAM tokens as safety deposits to offer cryptographically enforced location services and verify user Presence Claims, with validators providing fraud proofs. The company's product portfolio comprises FOAM Map (a community-verified, crowdsourced registry of places accessible via MetaMask), FOAM Location (the permissionless radio network itself), Trust Zone (the current incentivized testnet program), and the Zone Anchor hardware.

The company's go-to-market is community-led: it recruits operators to host Zone Anchors, run localization experiments, and curate map data, monetizing through a token economy rather than conventional SaaS pricing. Location Service Providers earn FOAM tokens via mining-style rewards and receive transaction fees for verified location services; users pay gas and token fees to add/verify locations. Target use cases span IoT device networks, geospatial data provenance, supply chain tracking, autonomous mobility, insurance claims verification, and blockchain-enabled location intelligence — all framed around the problem of GPS spoofing/jamming vulnerability for critical infrastructure. Specific pricing tiers are not publicly disclosed, the platform remains in testnet phase (Trust Zone), and the only named deployment is a four-node sandbox Zone at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, indicating the company is still pre-commercial.

The company was founded by Ryan John King (CEO), Kristoffer Josefsson (CTO, early Consensys member and BlockApps founding member), and Katya Zavyalova (Creative Director, architect), with advisors including Matt Liston (Augur co-founder, Gnosis founding member) and Rick Dudley (President of Vulcanize). It has raised disclosed funding including a reported $16M round led by Distributed Global (Aug 2018) and a $200K seed led by KR1 with Nirvana Capital (Sept 2018), alongside later grants from Placeholder and Starchain Capital, though investor totals and current capitalization are not fully detailed in source materials.

Name

FOAM

Legal name

Foamspace Corp

Website

https://foam.space

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

FOAM builds a decentralized, Ethereum-based location verification network using LPWAN radio beacons (Zone Anchors) and token-incentivized operators to provide GPS-independent, cryptographically verifiable geolocation for IoT, supply chain, mobility, and geospatial data use cases.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Location Verification Protocol

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Data Availability & Storage Verification (DA layers, proofs of storage/replication, audit networks) (FSAPALAH)

Keywords

• Decentralized location services
• Geospatial protocol infrastructure
• Blockchain location verification
• LPWAN radio network
• IoT location tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Location Service Fees: Location service providers receive transaction fees for verifying the locations of customers and providing work for the network. Service providers stake FOAM tokens as safety deposits to ensure accountability.
2. Token Staking Rewards: Zone operators earn FOAM tokens through mining rewards for operating location services. Participants who run localization experiments and submit results for evaluation are eligible for token rewards.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

FOAM builds a decentralized location verification protocol on Ethereum using LPWAN radio technology, allowing Location Service Providers to operate networks of Zone Anchors that verify user presence claims via Byzantine Fault Tolerant clock synchronization. The platform includes the FOAM Map crowdsourced place registry, the Trust Zone incentivized testnet for service providers, and the underlying Zone Anchor hardware nodes (PCB stack, battery, LTE modem, and antennas) that transact location services for FOAM token fees.

Product overview

FOAM is a decentralized location verification platform built on Ethereum that provides tools for a crowdsourced map and decentralized location services. The product portfolio consists of FOAM Map, a community-verified registry of crowdsourced places where users can add and verify locations using FOAM tokens, and FOAM Location, a permissionless and autonomous network of radio beacons (Zone Anchors) that offer secure location services through time synchronization independent of GPS. Trust Zone serves as the incentivized testnet for FOAM Location where participants operate Zones and run localization experiments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FOAM Location: A permissionless and autonomous network of radios that offer secure location services through time synchronization, independent of centralized sources like GPS.
• FOAM Map
• Trust Zone
• Zone Anchor

Products and services

• FOAM Location A permissionless and autonomous network of radios that offers secure location services through time synchronization, independent of centralized GPS. Built on Ethereum blockchain using LPWAN technology and Byzantine Fault Tolerant clock synchronization, with Location Service Providers staking FOAM tokens as safety deposits to verify Presence Claims for transaction fees.
• FOAM Map A community-verified registry of crowdsourced places accessible via a web application at map.foam.space that enables anyone to become a cartographer by adding points of interest and contributing to an open source registry of locations.
• Trust Zone An incentivized testnet program for the FOAM Location protocol where Location Service Providers can operate Zones, complete tasks, run localization experiments, and earn FOAM token rewards for submitting results.
• Zone Anchor Remotely-controlled radio nodes coordinated to transceive LoRa packets for the FOAM Location network. Each Zone Anchor consists of a PCB stack, battery, LTE modem, and two antennas, configured to log packets to a remote data store such as the blockchain.

Quantifiable outcome

• Network operates with fault tolerance - accurate location data even when part of the network is down

Named customers1 record

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• New LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Lab is an interdisciplinary workspace at Brooklyn Navy Yard designed to support urban entrepreneurs leveraging advanced technologies. FOAM is based out of New Lab, indicating a collaborative workspace partnership that supports FOAM's operations and innovation.
• Brooklyn Navy YardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrooklyn Navy Yard serves as the host location for FOAM's first operational Zone deployed to test localization in a dense urban setting. The installation hosts four radio nodes (Zone Anchors) across three rooftops.
• TendermintminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a supporting organization/collaborator in FOAM's ecosystem.
• NavelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a supporting organization/collaborator in FOAM's ecosystem.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Mapbox: Leading location platform providing maps, navigation, and geospatial services. Represents the centralized incumbent that FOAM's decentralized alternative aims to disrupt for verified location data.
• Filecoin: Decentralized storage network built on blockchain with token-incentivized infrastructure. Comparable Web3 protocol architecture and token economics, even though the underlying service (storage vs. location) differs.
• NextNav: Terrestrial positioning network providing GPS backup and 3D geolocation services. Competes with FOAM as an alternative PNT (positioning, navigation, timing) solution for critical infrastructure.
• Render Network: Decentralized GPU compute network using token incentives to coordinate distributed hardware. Shares the DePIN category and the proof-of-infrastructure economic model with FOAM.
• Chainlink: Decentralized oracle network that increasingly incorporates location and geospatial data feeds. Competes with FOAM at the application layer for verifiable location data inputs to smart contracts.

Emerging players

• DIMO: Decentralized vehicle data network using connected car hardware. DIMO shares FOAM's DePIN thesis and addresses the mobility/location segment that FOAM targets with autonomous vehicles.
• XNET: Decentralized mobile network operator using CBRS radios to deploy cellular coverage. Comparable DePIN approach with physical radio nodes and token-incentivized deployment, addressing adjacent connectivity infrastructure.
• Geodnet: DePIN project building a decentralized RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) GPS network using miner hardware for centimeter-accurate positioning. Direct DePIN competitor in the high-precision location services space.

Direct peers

• Hivemapper: Decentralized mapping network that rewards contributors with tokens for mapping streets via dashcam devices. Direct competitor in the decentralized geospatial/location category, with a similar hardware-plus-token model.
• Helium: Decentralized wireless network (DePIN) using radio hotspots to provide coverage. Helium is the most prominent DePIN peer — both projects incentivize physical radio infrastructure deployment via tokens to deliver location/coverage services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/foamspace
• GitHubgithub.com/f-o-a-m

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FOAM