Loading organizations...
§ Private Profile · 50 Milk St Boston, MA, USA
Voatz is a technology company.
Voatz offers a secure mobile elections platform enabling citizens to cast ballots remotely using their smartphones. This system integrates advanced security features inherent in modern smartphones, biometric authentication, and the immutability of blockchain technology to safeguard the voting process. For every digital vote submitted, the platform generates a corresponding paper ballot for official tabulation, alongside a digital receipt that allows voters to verify their selection.
The company was founded on December 22, 2016, by Nimit Sawhney and Simer Sawhney. The initial concept for Voatz emerged from a prototype developed by the founders at a SXSW hackathon in 2014, recognizing the potential to modernize and secure the electoral process through innovative mobile and distributed ledger technologies.
Voatz serves a diverse range of organizations, including states, cities, universities, and professional associations, assisting them in conducting various elections. The company’s long-term vision centers on transforming civic participation by providing a safe, convenient, and reliable method for voting, thereby enhancing accessibility and confidence in democratic procedures.
Voatz has raised $11.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Voatz has raised $11.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Voatz is a Boston-based technology company that develops secure mobile and online voting platforms, enabling voters to cast ballots from smartphones, tablets, or kiosks anywhere in the world.[1][2] It serves election administrators, governments, universities, nonprofits, and political organizations by solving accessibility barriers in voting—particularly for remote, military, overseas, and disabled voters—through blockchain-secured, biometric-authenticated systems that generate auditable paper trails and integrate with legacy election infrastructure.[1][3] Voatz has powered over 50 elections, including U.S. presidential pilots, with growth fueled by a $7 million Series A in 2019 (backed by Techstars) and expansions into states like West Virginia, Colorado, Utah, and Denver public audits.[3][6]
Voatz was founded by brothers Nimit Sawhney and another co-founder, emerging from a mission to make voting accessible without in-person requirements, leveraging smartphone security and blockchain immutability.[3] The company gained early traction as a 2017 Techstars Boston accelerator graduate, running pilots for cities, universities, and political conventions.[3] A pivotal moment came in 2018 with West Virginia's pilot for overseas military voters—the first U.S. mobile voting from 29 countries—followed by a $2.2 million investment from Overstock's Medici Ventures to scale blockchain voting tech.[2][3] Headquartered in Boston as a for-profit private firm, Voatz evolved from startup experiments to national pilots, including 2020 U.S. presidential elections.[2][6]
Voatz rides the wave of remote digital democracy, accelerated by pandemic-era voting demands and blockchain's rise for tamper-proof systems, addressing low turnout among 20-30% of remote-eligible U.S. voters.[3][6] Timing aligns with civic tech maturation—post-2018 pilots disproved "internet voting insecurity" myths via audits—amid market forces like aging electorates, cybersecurity advancements, and global experiments (e.g., Estonia's e-voting).[2][6] It influences the ecosystem by pioneering U.S. mobile voting standards, partnering with election officials and experts, and pushing competitors toward auditable blockchain models, though critics highlight undocumented server risks and third-party vulnerabilities.[4][5]
Voatz is positioned to dominate accessible remote voting as U.S. states modernize amid rising cybersecurity standards and global expansion.[6] Trends like AI-enhanced biometrics, zero-trust architectures, and federal remote voting mandates will propel growth, potentially scaling to full statewide rollouts if audits sustain trust. Influence may evolve from pilot leader to infrastructure provider, integrating with emerging Web3 identity protocols—building on its blockchain foundation to redefine election integrity at scale, much like its West Virginia breakthrough unlocked national adoption.[3][6]
Voatz has raised $11.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Voatz's investors include All Iron Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Presto Ventures, Strong Ventures, Albert Armengol, James Berdigans, Jonathan Johnson, Cody Simms, 43, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Calm/Storm Ventures, Chapter One Ventures.
Voatz has raised $11.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $2.0M Series U in April 2021.