According to The Block , CertiK , an auditing firm specializing in blockchain and Web3 security, is actively evaluating the possibility of listing on the public market.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, co-founder and Columbia University associate professor of computer science Ronghui Gu said that although there is "no very concrete IPO plan" at present, he admitted that going to the capital market "is definitely a goal that the company is pursuing" and hopes to make CertiK "the first publicly listed Web3 security company".
Valued at $2 billion, the startup cybersecurity faces the test of the capital market.
Founded in 2018, CertiK has become one of the key infrastructures in the market in recent years with the rapid expansion of DeFi, NFT and various on-chain applications, thanks to its smart contract auditing and on-chain analysis services.
The report points out that CertiK's most recent public fundraising was in 2022, when it raised $88 million in Series B3 funding, increasing the company's valuation to $2 billion. The lead investors included traditional large investment institutions such as Insight Partners, Tiger Global, and Advent International, and behind it are familiar names in the Wall Street capital market.
In an interview, Gu Ronghui also emphasized that Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is CertiK's earliest and largest investor, along with Coinbase, SoftBank, and others. This investor structure places CertiK at the intersection of traditional finance and the crypto industry.
The partnership with YZi Labs further strengthens the capital relationship.
Ahead of its IPO, CertiK announced a strategic partnership with YZi Labs, controlled by Binance founder CZ, in January. Gu Ronghui stated that Binance recently invested an "eight-figure dollar" sum in CertiK, further solidifying the relationship.
