Polygon Labs acquires zero-knowledge research firm Toposware

Polygon Labs has acquired Toposware, a zero-knowledge-focused blockchain research and engineering firm, with which it has collaborated to develop its type 1 prover.

The acquisition is part of Polygon Labs’ strategy to improve its zero-knowledge arsenal — particularly in developing AggLayer that expands interoperability capabilities across ZK-powered Ethereum Layer 2s.

It marks Polygon Labs’ third major ZK acquisition in less than three years.

Polygon Labs did not reveal the specific details or terms of the deal. Toposware was last valued between $20 million and $30 million, according to Dealroom.

Previous acquisitions

In August 2021, Polygon acquired the ZK scaling solution Hermez Network for $250 million. A few months later, Polygon made yet another acquisition in the ZK space — buying Mir Protocol for $400 million.

Polygon Labs executive chairman Sandeep Nailwal invested in Toposware's $5 million seed extension round  in November 2023.

Theo Gauthier, CEO of Toposware, will join the Polygon Labs engineering team.

Polygon Labs has contributed to the core development of several scaling protocols, including Polygon PoS, Polygon CDK, and Polygon zkEVM.

Its zkEVM competes with other ZK rollup scaling solutions, including Matter Labs’ zkSync, Scroll, Taiko, Linea and Starknet.