Foundation Raises $6.4M in Funding Led by Fulgur Ventures

The company plans to use the funding to grow its operations and support further product development.

Passport Prime includes a Bitcoin hardware wallet, FIDO security keys, two-factor authentication storage, a secure secrets vault, and 50GB of encrypted file storage.

Its KeyOS SDK allows developers to create additional apps and tools for the device, including Bitcoin spending controls, identity solutions, enterprise signing workflows, and AI approval systems.

Developers can begin building through Foundation’s developer platform, which provides documentation, SDK tools, and a KeyOS simulator for testing apps on a computer before using real hardware. Developers can also request a Passport device for testing. Foundation plans to launch the KeyOS app store to all users by the end of Q2, giving developers a way to distribute apps directly to Passport users.

Passport Prime runs on KeyOS, an open-source Rust-based operating system developed by Foundation over the past three years. The system includes QuantumLink, a secure Bluetooth communication protocol designed with post-quantum encryption technology.

The KeyOS developer platform provides documentation, a simulator, command-line tools, and a USB-connected MCP server that allows AI coding agents to build, test, and capture screenshots of apps on real Passport Prime devices. Developers can create security hardware applications using modern software development tools, including AI-assisted coding.

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"Passport Prime secure's the key's. You set the policies. KeyOS enforces them," said Ken Carpenter, cofounder, and CTO of Foundation. "The SDK lets developers build the apps that put those policies in your hands. The device stops being a box your keys sit in, and becomes the hardware root of trust for everything you do online."

"At Fulgur, we aim to support Bitcoin companies that can scale and solve real problems for large markets," said Oleg Mikhalsky, Partner at Fulgur Ventures. "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.

We are proud to support Foundation since its early stages. "I led Foundation's seed round at Polychain in 2022 because Zach and Ken saw further than anyone else in the space. The long game was never signing devices. It was secure hardware paired with a secure operating system that lets users manage their entire digital lives," said Will Wolf, Partner at Arche Capital.

"KeyOS delivers on that vision. The SDK, simulator, and security architecture turn dedicated hardware into the most advanced application platform for personal and enterprise security on the market, and let developers build the next generation of apps for money, identity, and AI authorization."

"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," said Zach Herbert, cofounder and CEO of Foundation. "That question cannot be answered by the same computer running the agent. It has to be answered on dedicated hardware, with a display you can trust and an operating system you can inspect. Nothing happens without your approval."

About Foundation

Founded in 2020 by Zach Herbert, Ken Carpenter, and Jacob Johnston, Foundation develops security hardware designed to help people stay in control of important digital decisions in the AI era. Its main product, Passport Prime, is a programmable security device powered by KeyOS, a Rust-based operating system with QuantumLink, a post-quantum encrypted Bluetooth communication protocol. Foundation’s hardware is manufactured in the United States at an ITAR-compliant facility.

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