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Opaque

Confidential computing for collaborative analytics and AI

Opaque logo
1-20 employees
  • B2B
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Analytics
  • Privacy
  • Machine Learning
  • SaaS
  • Cloud Computing
Berkeley, CA

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Company mission

To unleash confidential data from its current security constraints by building a next generation platform to drive secure analytics and machine learning directly on encrypted data.

Our take

Confidential computing protects data on cloud services whilst it’s in use - not just in transit or at rest. It provides a crucial way for researchers and organizations to unlock value from the vast swathes of increasingly siloed and private data being produced every day. Opaque has developed a confidential computing platform that specifically facilitates the use of advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms on encrypted data, without compromising on privacy.

Whilst relatively young, Opaque nevertheless commands impressive prestige: the founding team consists predominantly of long-term UC Berkeley computer science academics and professors, with prior expertise in developing and distributing tools in precisely this area. It’s helped the company drum up impressive funding, and possibly get ahead of competitors like Edgeless Systems and Decentriq to net a substantial client base across the finance and healthcare sectors.

Adoption of intelligent computing has accelerated rapidly, with major tech players like Microsoft, Arm, and Google founding the Confidential Computing Consortium to help foster what’s expected to become a $54Billion market by 2026. Opaque already has its foot firmly in the door.

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Freddie

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Benefits

  • Health Insurance: Our teammates and their dependents can choose a medical, dental, and vision plan from a range of comprehensive coverage options
  • Flexible Work Options: We welcome people from all over the world into the Opaque team. You can work at our San Francisco office, fully remotely, or anything in between
  • Unlimited PTO: Want to go backpacking in Iceland or watch Netflix for a week without checking Slack? Either way, unlimited personal time off allows you to achieve a balanced lifestyle
  • Commute Reimbursement: We offer transportation and parking reimbursements to those who choose to come into the office
  • Retirement Plan: Invest in your future and save some tax with our 401k plan
  • Home Office Reimbursement: Get the AirPods Max, a mechanical keyboard, or the newest 4k monitor. We provide a generous allowance for setting up your home office
  • Meals on us: Every Thursday, whether you are in the office or working remotely, lunch is on Opaque. We also offer quality coffee and, while specific snacks have become a contentious topic (pickles or no pickles? Can you eat lemons whole?), a variety of snacks and beverages

Company values

  • Diversity: Diversity in backgrounds and opinions powers growth, creativity, and new ideas. We cherish inclusivity and acceptance
  • Ownership: We believe in ownership as a driver of both personal and business success. We encourage everyone to take initiative and avoid micromanagement
  • Collaboration: Our high-performance teams critically depend on open dialogue and genuine feedback. No idea is too small to consider. We value honest communication and discuss important issues with integrity and humility
  • Ethics: Privacy is a fundamental human right. We wake up every day on a mission to defend that right, even as the Golden Age of data and information rolls on. Many businesses strive to make money off your personal information. We’re here to protect it
  • Growth: We strive for success at the company level as well as the individual level. We optimize for outcomes and diligently remove all distractions so that our team can focus on what matters. We’re going all out to build something special as a team while simultaneously aspiring to accelerate the career momentum of each of our teammates

Funding (2 rounds)

Jun 2022

$22m

SERIES A

Jul 2021

$9.5m

SEED

Total funding: $31.5m

This company has top investors

Leadership

Rishabh Poddar

(CEO)

Consulted with BCG for a brief spell, then worked in research at IBM and Microsoft.

Raluca Ada Popa

(President)

After completing her PhD in computer science at MIT, co-founded PreVeil. Alongside her work at Opaque, is also a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

Wenting Zheng

(Chief Scientist)

Completed a PhD in computer science at Berkeley, before working in software at Hulu and Facebook, and on research at CSAIL. Is additionally a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Chester Leung

(Principal Engineer)

Following an MS in computer science at Berkeley, spent time in software at TiVo, GoDaddy, and Facebook. Subsequently worked as a researcher at the Berkeley RISE Lab.

Ion Stoica

(Co-founder)

Previously CTO at Conviva for 16 years, then co-founder and CEO of Databricks. Subsequently co-founded Anyscale, and along the way has spent over two decades as a UC Berkeley professor in the computer science department.