Anthropic absorbs confidential computing startup Opaque Systems through an acquihire

Opaque began as a UC Berkeley RISELab research project and built software that lets AI systems handle sensitive data while hardware enforces protection. Its founders include Ion Stoica and Raluca Ada Popa, and Aaron Fulkerson has served as CEO since October 2023. Earlier this year the startup raised a $24 million Series B at a $300 million valuation, and it listed Anthropic among its customers alongside ServiceNow and Accenture. Opaque's website says its team is joining Anthropic and that the company is winding down operations. Before the deal, the startup had widened its focus from confidential AI to verifiable AI, aiming to produce cryptographic evidence of what an agent ran and under which policies. It also maintained open projects such as an Agent Governance Toolkit. For teams building agents on sensitive data, this shows verification and confidential computing are moving into frontier-lab stacks. Founders in those niches should expect talent consolidation, and anyone who relied on a small vendor should review continuity terms.