What Herodotus does

Herodotus is a zero-knowledge (ZK) infrastructure company that provides trust-minimized data verification and verifiable compute for the Ethereum and broader rollup ecosystem. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in London (HERODOTUS Dev Ltd.), the company builds cryptographic tooling that allows smart contracts on one chain layer to access and verify state from another layer — L1↔L2↔L3 — without relying on centralized oracles or trusted intermediaries. Its core technology stack combines ZK-STARKs, the Cairo programming language, and Merkle Mountain Range (MMR) accumulators implemented with dual hash functions (Keccak256 for EVM chains, Poseidon for Starknet).

The product portfolio spans four layers: (1) Storage Proofs — inclusion and computation proofs over Ethereum and rollup datasets; (2) developer-facing APIs — the Storage Proof API, Data Processor API, and Turbo smart-contract interface enabling one-line-code cross-chain integration; (3) higher-level infrastructure — the Herodotus Data Processor (HDP) for verifiable compute over on-chain data lakes, and the Integrity Verifier (co-developed with StarkWare) for STARK proof verification inside the Cairo VM; and (4) supporting protocol components — the Historical Block Hash Accumulator (effectively implementing EIP-2935 off-protocol), Timestamp to Block Mapper, and the OP Stack Indexer. Herodotus Cloud Services provides managed enterprise hosting. Supported networks span Ethereum, Starknet, zkSync Era, Optimism, Arbitrum, and multiple OP Stack chains.

Commercially, Herodotus pursues a hybrid developer-led and enterprise GTM: usage-based API fees for developers, Turbo transaction fees for smart-contract-mediated requests, and custom quote-based multi-year contracts for enterprise cloud customers. Security posture has been third-party validated through ABDK (October 2023) and ChainSecurity (November 2023) audits. Target customer segments are horizontal — blockchain developers, DeFi projects, gaming/app-chain builders, and enterprises exploring verifiable data — with no disclosed revenue, funding rounds, or named enterprise customers in the available data.

Name

Herodotus

Legal name

HERODOTUS Dev Ltd.

Website

https://herodotus.dev

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Herodotus is a ZK infrastructure company that provides trust-minimized cross-chain data verification and verifiable compute for smart contracts across Ethereum, Starknet, zkSync, Optimism, and Arbitrum, serving blockchain developers, DeFi projects, and enterprises building verifiable applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Zero-Knowledge Blockchain Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

RWA Oracles, Data Attestation & Proof-of-Reserve/Proof-of-Collateral (FSADAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Identity, Credentials & Permissioning for Enterprises (DID/VC, access control, attestations) (FSAPAIAG)

Keywords

• Zero-knowledge infrastructure
• Blockchain data verification
• Cross-chain interoperability
• Storage proofs
• Verifiable compute

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Storage Proof API Services: API access to storage proof generation and verification capabilities. Developers pay for API usage to request Storage Proofs, with the API handling scheduling and mutualizing costs associated with proof generation.
2. Herodotus Cloud Services: Enterprise-grade verifiable data and compute solutions via cloud infrastructure. Eliminates the need for customers to manage complex backend systems. Includes Data Processor API and Storage Proof API hosting.
3. Turbo Fees: Turbo operator fees where users pay for transactions through a smart contract using feeToken.transfer. Fee must meet minimum threshold for transaction pickup by the RPC.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Herodotus is a zero-knowledge infrastructure company providing a data access middleware that enables smart contracts to access current and historical on-chain data across Ethereum layers (L1, L2, L3). The company sells API-based and cloud-hosted products — Storage Proofs, Storage Proof API, Turbo, and the Herodotus Data Processor (HDP) — that combine inclusion proofs and proofs of computation to cryptographically verify on-chain data and run verifiable compute across chains without requiring developers to understand cryptography or write ZK circuits.

Product overview

Herodotus is a ZK infrastructure company offering a portfolio of products for verifiable data access, verifiable compute, and blockchain scaling. The core offerings include Storage Proofs (combining inclusion and computation proofs for blockchain data verification), the Storage Proof API (for easy API-based proof requests), Turbo (smart contract interface for one-line integration), and the Herodotus Data Processor/HDP (coprocessor for large-scale on-chain computations). Supporting infrastructure includes the Historical Block Hash Accumulator, Timestamp to Block Mapper, and Integrity Verifier for STARK verification on Starknet. The Sequencer-to-Sequencer framework enables horizontal scaling of app-chains. Herodotus Cloud Services provides enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure. The platform uses ZK-STARKs, Cairo, and Merkle Mountain Ranges, and supports multiple Ethereum layers including Ethereum, Starknet, Optimism, zkSync, and Arbitrum.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Storage Proofs: A solution combining inclusion proofs and proofs of computation to attest the validity of elements in large datasets like Ethereum blockchain or rollups.
• Storage Proof API
• Turbo
• Herodotus Data Processor (HDP)
• Data Processor Modules
• Integrity Verifier
• Sequencer-to-Sequencer (S2S)
• Historical Block Accumulators

Quantifiable outcome

• Log(n) verification complexity for timestamp-to-block mapping
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• StarkWarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntegrity Verifier was developed in collaboration with StarkWare, combining expertise from both teams to create a STARK proof verifier running natively in the Cairo VM. This partnership enables Layer 3 scalability on Starknet and enhances the entire ecosystem's capabilities for proof verification.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Axiom: Axiom is a ZK coprocessor that enables smart contracts to compute over historical Ethereum on-chain data using storage proofs and Keccak-Merkle proofs. It is the most direct competitor to Herodotus's Storage Proofs and HDP products, targeting the same developer segment.
• Succinct Labs: Succinct develops SP1, a general-purpose zkVM, and the Succinct Prover Network for generating ZK proofs at scale. It competes with Herodotus in the ZK proof generation and verifiable compute stack across Ethereum.
• RISC Zero: RISC Zero provides a general-purpose zkVM (zkVM 1.0, Bonsai) that allows developers to run arbitrary computations and generate ZK proofs for blockchain verification. It competes with Herodotus's verifiable compute and HDP offerings across the same Ethereum ecosystem.
• Lagrange: Lagrange Labs builds ZK coprocessor infrastructure and a state-of-the-art ZK proof network for cross-chain verifiable computation. It overlaps with Herodotus's cross-chain data verification and verifiable compute offerings.
• Brevis: Brevis is a ZK coprocessor that lets smart contracts verify and compute over historical cross-chain data trustlessly. It directly competes with Herodotus's storage proof and verifiable compute products in DeFi and cross-chain use cases.

Emerging players

• Polybase: Polybase is a verifiable data platform using ZK proofs for trustless access to off-chain and on-chain data. It addresses a similar verifiable data problem with a partial overlap in target use cases for DeFi and enterprise applications.
• Caldera: Caldera provides app-chain and rollup-as-a-service infrastructure including the Metalayer for cross-rollup interoperability. It overlaps with Herodotus's Sequencer-to-Sequencer framework for horizontally scaling app-chains.

Broad incumbents

• StarkWare: StarkWare builds Starknet and the Cairo/STARK ecosystem. It is both a strategic partner (Integrity Verifier) and a broader incumbent whose L2 infrastructure provides the foundation Herodotus's Starknet-targeted products are built on top of.
• Optimism: Optimism is a leading OP Stack L2 on Ethereum and the developer of the OP Stack rollup framework. Herodotus provides an OP Stack Indexer and storage proofs across Optimism and OP Stack chains, making Optimism a key partner-incumbent.
• Matter Labs (zkSync): zkSync is a major ZK-rollup L2 on Ethereum. Herodotus supports zkSync Era as one of its integration targets, and Matter Labs represents a broader incumbent whose protocol roadmap affects demand for Herodotus's cross-chain infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HerodotusDev
• GitHubgithub.com/HerodotusDev
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/herodotus

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Herodotus