Helios Voting
Helios Voting is a non-profit, open-source online voting platform founded in 2008 that uses homomorphic encryption to deliver verifiable, private elections for organizations such as book clubs, student governments, and unions. Over 2 million votes have been cast on the platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersMountain View, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Helios Voting does
Helios Voting is an open-source, non-partisan online voting platform founded in 2008 by Ben Adida and operated out of Mountain View, California. The platform enables organizations to conduct private, end-to-end verifiable online elections for use cases including book clubs, parent-teacher associations, student governments, and workers' unions. The system uses browser-side encryption, homomorphic encryption for tallying, and multi-trustee decryption, and was published as peer-reviewed research at Usenix Security 2008. Each voter receives a ballot tracker that cryptographically proves their encrypted vote was received and tallied without tampering, while individual votes are never decrypted during normal operation. To date, more than 2,000,000 votes have been cast through the platform.
The platform is built as a self-serve web service accessible globally at vote.heliosvoting.org, with administrator and voter authentication via OAuth through Google, GitHub, Facebook, Yahoo, and Twitter. The codebase is open-source on GitHub and is supported by an external verification ecosystem including the Pyrios Go library (developed by a Google engineer) and the Helios Election Monitor (developed by the Université catholique de Louvain). Ben Adida is supported by an advisory board that includes Lawrence Lessig (Harvard), Josh Benaloh (Microsoft Research), and Dan Wallach (Rice University/ACCURATE), lending significant academic credibility to the cryptographic claims.
Helios is structured as a non-profit providing a free public good, with no disclosed pricing, no venture funding, no institutional investors, and no formal revenue model. The organization distributes via word-of-mouth, academic credibility, and open-source community engagement rather than outbound sales. The platform explicitly recommends against use for US Federal and State elections due to security concerns, defensively scoping itself away from the highest-stakes public-office elections.
Helios Voting firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Helios Voting
- Legal name
- Helios Voting
- Website
- https://heliosvoting.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Helios Voting is a non-profit, open-source online voting platform founded in 2008 that uses homomorphic encryption to deliver verifiable, private elections for organizations such as book clubs, student governments, and unions. Over 2 million votes have been cast on the platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Helios Voting industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Voting Software
- SIC
- Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)
Keywords
Where Helios Voting is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Mountain View
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Helios Voting business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Free Open-Source Service: The Helios Voting platform at vote.heliosvoting.org appears to be offered free of charge as a public good. The organization is non-partisan and led by Ben Adida. Revenue model is not explicitly disclosed in the source material.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels2 records
Helios Voting product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Helios Voting operates an open-source, web-based platform that enables organizations to run verifiable online elections. The platform uses homomorphic encryption to tally encrypted ballots without ever decrypting individual votes, and gives each voter a cryptographic ballot tracker to confirm their vote was received and tallied correctly while preserving vote privacy.
Product overview
Helios Voting is a single, unified online election platform providing verifiable voting services. The core offering consists of the Helios Voting Platform itself, which enables organizations to conduct private and auditable elections using cryptographic techniques. Supporting the platform are the Helios Ballot Tracker feature (an integral component of the verification system providing cryptographic proof of vote integrity), and external verification tools like Pyrios (a Go library by Google) and the Helios Election Monitor (by Université catholique de Louvain) that enable third parties to independently verify election results. The platform has processed over 2,000,000 votes and is used by book clubs, parent-teacher associations, student governments, workers' unions, and larger organizations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Helios Voting Platform A self-serve, web-based verifiable online election platform enabling organizations (such as book clubs, parent-teacher associations, student governments, workers' unions, and other groups) to conduct private, auditable elections using homomorphic encryption and end-to-end browser encryption. Administrators log in via Google or GitHub OAuth to create and run elections, while voters receive a cryptographic ballot tracker to verify their vote was received and counted correctly.
Quantifiable outcome
- 2,000,000+ votes cast successfully
Companies that use Helios Voting
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Helios Voting technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature4 records
Helios Voting partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Helios Voting competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Scytl: Established commercial provider of online voting and election management software for governments and associations. While proprietary, Scytl targets the same online election market as Helios but at enterprise/government scale.
- Voatz: Mobile voting platform using biometric and ID verification for remote elections. Operates in the same online voting category as Helios but with a commercial, smartphone-first delivery model.
- Democracy Live: Commercial ballot delivery and online voting platform serving U.S. election offices and civic organizations. Competes in the online election administration space that Helios also addresses, though with a paid, established product portfolio.
Emerging players
- Tally: On-chain governance and voting tool for DAOs. Analogous to Helios in providing verifiable, tamper-resistant voting — though for blockchain-based organizations rather than civic ones.
- Snapshot: Off-chain voting platform widely used by Web3 DAOs for verifiable governance decisions. Comparable in providing auditable voting for self-organizing groups, though in the digital-asset governance niche.
Direct peers
- Wombat Voting: Academic end-to-end verifiable voting system named in Helios' FAQ. Comparable in offering true verifiability with cryptographic assurance over the tallying process.
- STAR-Vote: Academic end-to-end verifiable voting system cited in Helios' FAQ as a comparable. Both target open-audit election integrity with cryptographic verification of the tally.
- Scantegrity: Academic paper-based verifiable voting system explicitly named in Helios' FAQ as a peer with true verifiability. Both pursue end-to-end voter-verifiable election integrity, though Scantegrity focuses on paper ballots.
- Pret a Voter: Paper-based verifiable voting system referenced by Helios as a comparable end-to-end auditable election platform. Shares the goal of mathematically verifiable ballots without sacrificing voter privacy.
- ElectionGuard (Microsoft): Microsoft's open-source SDK for end-to-end verifiable elections, using cryptographic techniques comparable to Helios. Both target verifiable online and in-person voting with similar end-to-end auditability guarantees, making them the closest functional peers.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Helios Voting social profiles
Digital presenceHelios Voting financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Helios Voting leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Helios Voting funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Helios Voting 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 Helios Voting
What does Helios Voting do?
Helios Voting operates an open-source, web-based platform that enables organizations to run verifiable online elections. The platform uses homomorphic encryption to tally encrypted ballots without ever decrypting individual votes, and gives each voter a cryptographic ballot tracker to confirm their vote was received and tallied correctly while preserving vote privacy.
Is Helios Voting a public or private company?
Helios Voting is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Helios Voting founded?
Helios Voting was founded in 2008.
Where is Helios Voting based?
Helios Voting is headquartered in Mountain View, United States, in the North America region.
How does Helios Voting make money?
One revenue line is on record: free Open-Source Service.
Who are Helios Voting's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Scytl, Voatz and Democracy Live. Emerging players are Tally and Snapshot. Direct peers are Wombat Voting, STAR-Vote, Scantegrity, Pret a Voter and ElectionGuard (Microsoft).
Does Helios Voting have an API?
No public API is recorded for Helios Voting.
What industry is Helios Voting in?
Helios Voting's product category is Online Voting Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADAGAA, Electoral Support & Election Observation. Its SIC code is 7374.