Foundation, a Boston-based company specializing in bitcoin hardware wallet solutions, has successfully completed a $6.4 million funding round led by Fulgur Ventures. This latest funding raises the company's total capital to around $16.5 million since its founding in 2021 and marks a strategic shift towards improving security for artificial intelligence agents and identity verification.
Expanding Beyond Self-Custody
This funding arrives as Foundation gears up to launch its flagship product, Passport Prime, priced at $349. The device aims to fill a crucial security gap in managing AI agents. It serves not only as a bitcoin hardware wallet but also as a FIDO security key and two-factor authentication storage unit. Foundation CEO Zach Herbert highlighted the importance of dedicated hardware to tackle the unique challenges of authorizing AI agent decisions. He noted, "Every era has its key management problem. For bitcoin it was self-custody. For the agentic era it is who actually authorizes the decisions an AI agent takes on someone’s behalf."
The Passport Prime features a Rust-based microkernel operating system called KeyOS, developed over three years, and employs QuantumLink, a post-quantum encrypted Bluetooth protocol, to facilitate secure communication. Its manufacturing in an ITAR-compliant facility in the United States further enhances its appeal to security-focused users.
Fulgur Ventures' Strategic Support
Fulgur Ventures is more than just a financial backer; the firm shares Foundation’s vision of expanding self-custody principles to broader applications. Partner Oleg Mikhalsky stated, "Foundation is taking the discipline of self-custody, open source software, dedicated hardware, and explicit user approval, and extending it beyond bitcoin into identity, multi-factor authentication, and AI agent authorization." This viewpoint underscores the growing recognition of the need for secure, user-controlled environments amid rapidly advancing AI technologies.
KeyOS Developer Platform and Future Plans
Alongside the funding announcement, Foundation has opened the KeyOS developer platform to external developers, offering access to a full SDK, documentation, and tools for creating applications that leverage the Passport Prime's capabilities. The company plans to launch an app store for KeyOS by the end of Q2 2026, intending to integrate additional tools for AI agents and identity security.
The first collaboration on this platform comes from Cake Wallet, which will provide over one million users with cold storage options through KeyOS. This partnership illustrates the extensive integrations Foundation envisions across various sectors, including bitcoin, identity management, and AI workflows.
Navigating Competitive Challenges
As Foundation works to establish its place in the hardware security market, it faces significant competition from established firms like Trezor and Ledger. Both companies have made considerable progress in hardware wallet solutions, with Ledger actively developing an AI infrastructure roadmap. Trezor continues to prioritize foundational hardware security, taking a cautious approach to integrating AI technologies.
Herbert and Foundation’s executive team aim to position Passport Prime as an essential tool to bridge the gap between user trust and the autonomous capabilities of AI agents. CTO Ken Carpenter succinctly captured this vision, stating, "A hardware wallet is a calculator. KeyOS is a computer. The device stops being a box your keys sit in and becomes the trust layer for everything you do online."
The competition for secure AI agent authorization is intensifying, and Foundation’s recent funding round moves the company closer to addressing the complexities of identity and decision-making in an increasingly autonomous digital landscape.
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