# Simanta Gautam

> Simanta Gautam is the co-founder and CEO of Alpen Labs, a startup building zero-knowledge infrastructure to make Bitcoin scalable, private, and programmable. An MIT-trained engineer who earlier founded the airport-security computer-vision company Synapse Technology (acquired by Palantir, where he became AI Lead), he now leads a team turning Bitcoin's intentionally limited base layer into rails for global money. The mission traces to a personal detail: founders with roots in Nepal, where roughly a quarter of GDP arrives as remittances, saw firsthand how much money is lost to middlemen.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Alpen Labs
- **Organizations:** Alpen Labs, Palantir Technologies, Synapse Technology Corporation
- **Education:** Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- **Known for:** Founded and led Synapse Technology, raising $6M+ before its acquisition by Palantir., Led Edge AI and ML Infrastructure as AI Lead at Palantir., Co-founded Alpen Labs and raised a combined ~$21M to build Bitcoin scaling infrastructure.

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Founded Synapse Technology Corporation, an AI and computer-vision company for security screening; served as Founder & CTO and raised over $6M.
- **2020** — Synapse Technology acquired by Palantir Technologies; Gautam became AI Lead, heading Edge AI and ML Infrastructure.
- **2022** — Co-founded Alpen Labs in June with fellow MIT graduates to scale Bitcoin with zero-knowledge technology.
- **2023** — Ribbit Capital led a $10.6M seed round for Alpen Labs.
- **2024** — Alpen Labs emerged from stealth, publicly revealing its $10.6M in seed funding and its Bitcoin ZK rollup, Strata.
- **2025** — Alpen Labs closed an additional $8.5M strategic round led by the Cyber Fund and DBA; Gautam spoke at ETHDenver and joined Brink engineers on SNARKs, ZK rollups and BitVM2.

## Achievements

- Founded and led Synapse Technology, raising $6M+ before its acquisition by Palantir.
- Led Edge AI and ML Infrastructure as AI Lead at Palantir.
- Co-founded Alpen Labs and raised a combined ~$21M to build Bitcoin scaling infrastructure.
- Helped pioneer zero-knowledge rollup design for Bitcoin (Strata), presenting early work at BTC++ in 2023.
- Early research affiliations with Harvard, MIT and NASA.

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — Alpen Labs closed an $8.5M strategic round led by the Cyber Fund and DBA, with Ribbit Capital, Castle Island Ventures and Geometry returning.
- **2025-02** — Joined Brink engineers to discuss SNARKs, ZK rollups and BitVM2 on Bitcoin.
- **2025-05** — Publicly framed Alpen's work as building 'the cypherpunk dollar forged from bitcoin.'

## Links

- Website: https://alpenlabs.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simanta-gautam/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/simanta_gautam
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3J9KESLls8

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/simanta-gautam
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21