Executive Summary
ZeroVault is developing a privacy-preserving decentralized identity protocol that enables users to prove credentials (age, residency, accreditation status) without revealing underlying data. Built on zero-knowledge cryptography and the EBSI infrastructure, ZeroVault addresses a critical gap in European digital sovereignty: enabling regulatory compliance (eIDAS 2.0, MiCA) without requiring users to surrender their personal data to third parties. We are seeking €1.8M EIC Accelerator funding to complete TRL 6-7 validation, deploy production infrastructure on Ethereum and Polygon, and demonstrate enterprise integration with three EU financial institutions over an 18-month execution window.
1. Problem & Innovation
1.1 The Problem
European businesses face an impossible compliance equation. eIDAS 2.0 (effective May 2026) requires verifiable identity for cross-border digital services. MiCA (operational since 2025) mandates KYC for digital asset transactions above €1,000. PSD3 (effective 2027) extends authentication requirements across all payment touchpoints. Yet GDPR's data minimization principle directly conflicts with the data collection traditionally required for compliance — creating legal exposure of up to 4% of global revenue per violation.
The cost of this dilemma is staggering. The European Banking Authority estimates EU institutions spend €15-20B annually on identity verification. According to Forrester research, 73% of [INSERT YOUR INDUSTRY] enterprises report compliance overhead as their top operational cost. SMEs lose roughly €40K per year navigating multiple identity providers. Most damaging: 31% of cross-border digital transactions are abandoned due to redundant identity checks, costing the European digital economy approximately €4.7B in lost commerce annually.
1.2 Our Solution
ZeroVault is a self-sovereign identity layer using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to enable selective disclosure. Users hold their credentials in a wallet (mobile or hardware); when a service needs verification, the wallet proves the required predicate (e.g., "user is over 18") without revealing the underlying birthdate. Three proven cryptographic primitives anchor the system: BBS+ signatures for selective disclosure of credential attributes, Groth16 proofs for predicate verification (under 2KB per proof), and the EBSI ledger for verifiable credential anchoring.
Critically, ZeroVault is interoperable with existing EU infrastructure. Credentials issued by EBSI-accredited providers (universities, governments, regulated entities) work natively. Verifying parties integrate via a single REST API. Users move credentials between wallets via DIDComm v2 — no vendor lock-in. The system handles 1,200 verifications per second on commodity hardware, sufficient for nation-scale deployment.
1.3 What Makes It Novel
Three innovations distinguish ZeroVault from existing self-sovereign identity solutions. First, our ZK circuit library is the first to support arbitrary predicate composition over W3C Verifiable Credentials — enabling complex compliance checks ("user is EU-resident AND accredited investor AND age 21+") in a single proof. Second, our credential revocation mechanism uses cryptographic accumulators to handle revocation without compromising privacy — a technical breakthrough validated against published attacks (Camenisch et al. 2024). Third, ZeroVault is the first SSI implementation purpose-built for EBSI integration, not retrofitted from generic standards.
1.4 Technology Readiness
ZeroVault is currently at TRL 5. We have a working prototype validated in a controlled environment with [INSERT NUMBER] credentials issued and [INSERT NUMBER] verifications executed on EBSI testnet. EIC funding will move us to TRL 7 by month 18: full production deployment, integration with three named EU financial institutions, and independent security audit by [INSERT AUDIT FIRM]. Post-grant TRL 8-9 deployment is contingent on follow-on Series A funding.
2. Market & Impact
2.1 Market Opportunity
The European digital identity market is €4.2B in 2026 and growing at 28% CAGR (Gartner, 2026). Within this, the addressable serviceable market for SSI solutions is €1.1B. ZeroVault targets three customer segments: Regulated financial institutions (banks, exchanges, asset managers) needing scalable KYC: €580M segment. SaaS platforms requiring user verification (HR tech, healthtech, edtech): €310M. Public sector (DiGov digital services, eHealth): €220M.
Our go-to-market strategy prioritizes regulated finance first. Three signed letters of intent from [INSERT BANK 1], [INSERT BANK 2], and [INSERT FINTECH] commit to pilot integrations within 6 months of grant award. Average contract value is projected at €280K annually based on competitive pricing benchmarks (existing SSI solutions like [INSERT COMPETITOR] charge €0.18 per verification at enterprise volumes).
2.2 Go-to-Market Strategy
We deploy a three-phase go-to-market approach. Phase 1 (months 1-6): Production deployment, three pilot integrations with named LOI partners. Target: 50K verifications, validated unit economics. Phase 2 (months 7-12): Commercial launch, EU GTM partnerships with [INSERT SI PARTNERS], targeted financial services accounts. Target: €1.2M ARR, 8 enterprise customers. Phase 3 (months 13-18): Public sector expansion, standards body engagement (W3C SSI Working Group, EBSI Steering Committee). Target: €4M ARR, 25+ customers.
2.3 Societal & Environmental Impact
ZeroVault addresses three EU strategic priorities. Digital sovereignty: by anchoring identity verification on EU-controlled infrastructure (EBSI), we reduce dependence on US-based identity providers. Privacy: ZK proofs eliminate the data leakage that has resulted in [INSERT NUMBER] major EU breaches in the past 24 months. Environmental: our cryptographic approach eliminates the need for centralized verification servers — verification computation happens on user devices, reducing per-verification energy consumption by an estimated 87% versus centralized SSO providers.
2.4 IP Strategy
Two patent applications are filed: WO/2026/[INSERT] covering our predicate composition method, and WO/2026/[INSERT] covering revocation accumulator design. Three additional applications are planned for novel circuits developed during the grant period. Core protocol implementations are released under MIT license to accelerate ecosystem adoption; patented optimizations remain proprietary for enterprise tier customers.
3. Execution & Team
3.1 Work Plan & Milestones
Months 1-6: Production hardening (M1-M2), three pilot deployments (M3-M5), security audit completion (M6). Months 7-12: Commercial launch (M7), 5 enterprise integrations (M8-M11), regulatory certification under eIDAS 2.0 (M12). Months 13-18: Standards body engagement (M13-M18), public sector pilots (M14-M16), Series A close target (M18). Critical milestones tracked monthly with quantified KPIs.
3.2 Team & Capacity
[INSERT FOUNDER NAMES AND BACKGROUNDS]. Our 8-person team combines cryptographic depth (3 PhDs in applied cryptography, 2 from leading European universities), regulatory experience (former compliance lead at [INSERT BANK]), and proven enterprise execution (combined 22 years scaling B2B SaaS). Three advisors: [INSERT EBSI WORKING GROUP MEMBER], [INSERT W3C SSI CHAIR], [INSERT REGULATORY EXPERT].
3.3 Risk Management
Three primary risks tracked. Technical: ZK proof complexity could miss performance targets. Mitigation: parallel circuit optimization workstreams, fallback to BBS+ only for low-risk predicates. Market: enterprise sales cycles longer than projected. Mitigation: three signed LOIs reduce sales risk; SaaS pricing model enables faster procurement. Regulatory: eIDAS 2.0 implementation guidance evolving. Mitigation: active participation in [INSERT WORKING GROUP], close coordination with EBSI Steering Committee.
3.4 Budget Justification
Total project budget: €2,400,000 over 18 months. Personnel (62%, €1,488,000): 8 FTEs at average €124K loaded cost. Infrastructure (15%, €360,000): EBSI node operations, cryptographic hardware, cloud compute. Subcontracts (12%, €288,000): security audit (€180K), legal/IP (€80K), regulatory consulting (€28K). Travel and dissemination (5%, €120,000): conference engagement, partner integration. Indirect costs (6%, €144,000): standard EU rate.