From SJSU Student to Startup Visionary: Zain Zaidi’s Journey to Co-Founding TransCrypts

TransCrypts Co-Founders Ali Zaheer (left) and Zain Zaidi, ’21 Electrical Engineering. Photo courtesy of TransCrypts. 

When Zain Zaidi, ’21 Electrical Engineering, co-founded his company in 2020, he couldn’t have envisioned how quickly it would grow.  

What began as a simple idea has since evolved into TransCrypts, a blockchain-based platform that allows people to be in control of their own digital records, and currently serves over 450 enterprise customers – including multiple Fortune 500 companies –  and 4 million users. 

Earlier this month, TransCrypts announced that it recently received $15 million in seed funding from investors like Mark Cuban, Lightspeed Faction, Motley Fool Ventures, Techstars and the California Innovation Fund. The seed round was led by Pantera Capital. 

This funding will play a crucial role in the continued growth and evolution of TransCrypts.  

“Our goal is simple: to give people 100% control of their identity,” says Zaidi, who is also the company’s CEO. “Whether it’s employment, health or educational records, we’re making verification secure, efficient and fraud-resistant.”

The initial spark 

The idea for starting TransCrypts came about while Zaidi was a student at SJSU. During his senior year of college, he experienced firsthand how challenging it was to get access to his undergraduate transcript while applying to grad school. 

“I understand that it’s a lot of time for the university to produce the document and send it over,” says Zaidi. “But I just thought: There has to be a more efficient way for people to own their verified credentials and verified data.”  

Soon after, Zaidi mentioned the idea of starting a company to his mom, and she suggested that he contact his cousin, Ali Zaheer, who was based in Toronto. Zaheer had quite a bit of technical experience working with blockchain, which would end up being the underlying technology that powers TransCrypts.  

At the time, the Covid-19 pandemic was in full force, and Zaidi was accustomed to going on walks around the neighborhood. During one of these walks, Zaidi decided to call his cousin, whom he didn’t know too well at the time. 

Zaidi and Zaheer ended up speaking on the phone for three and a half hours.

The next day, Zaidi gave his cousin another call. They spoke for three and a half more hours. And just about every day after that, they kept speaking. 

“We discussed everything – the pandemic, politics, technology, our personal lives. I realized, this guy is awesome. We were very similar to each other,” says Zaidi. “And of course, we kept talking about the business idea, which evolved through our discussions.” 

They delved into all kinds of details and refined a plan for developing TransCrypts. 

Ups and downs  

In 2021, Zaidi and Zaheer were a part of SJSU’s ZinnStarter, a startup accelerator for entrepreneurs. The ZinnStarter program was founded by SJSU alum Ray Zinn, ’68 Business Administration, former CEO of Micrel. To date, the ZinnStarter program has supported 70 ZinnStarter fellows.

“We actually pitched the idea for TransCrypts to the Silicon Valley Business Plan Competition through SJSU, and we won it,” says Zaidi. “That gave us the conviction that this was not just an idea, and that there could be something more to it. So San José State has been right there with the origin of this story.” 

After getting that win under their belts, Zaidi and Zaheer continued to push forward. 

“I was funding my business with my credit card. Turns out no one will give a business loan to a 21-year-old with an idea,” says Zaidi. 

He racked up $33,000 in credit card debt. 

“When I graduated, I had many job offers. I didn’t take any of them,” says Zaidi. “I already decided that TransCrypts was what I wanted to do. So I went full into it.” 

Through the Silicon Valley Business Plan Competition, they won a $10,000 prize, which they were both thrilled and grateful to receive. But they soon realized that they needed a more substantial amount of money to really bring their idea into fruition. 

So they kicked off their first funding round, raising about $330,000 from a variety of angel investors. 

Then in 2022, they joined Techstars, a startup accelerator that helped them to build upon what they learned at SJSU. Through this program, they learned how to talk to investors, hire employees and refine their pitch.  

“After Techstars, in 2022, the economy took a nosedive. There was a lot of controversy in the blockchain space regarding cryptocurrency,” says Zaidi. “Some in that space were engaged in fraud, so investors were no longer interested in investing in anything to do with blockchain.” 

Although TransCrypts had nothing to do with selling crypto, they were using the underlying blockchain technology that supported it.  

The business was running out of money. They had gotten a few early beta customers, but there was nothing substantial happening. A new plan was needed. 

Next level 

One day, Zaidi was listening to a podcast that featured entrepreneur, venture capitalist and television personality Mark Cuban. Fearlessly, Zaidi dropped Cuban an email, telling him all about TransCrypts and asking if he was interested in investing.

Cuban replied to the email, saying he liked the idea, but wasn’t interested in investing at the moment. 

So Zaidi and Zaheer kept their heads down and continued to plug away at building the business. And six months later, Zaidi followed up with Cuban to update him on their progress.

This time, Cuban said he was ready to invest. 

“Once we got Mark’s investment, other investors followed. We were able to collectively raise a $3.7 million dollar pre-seed round,” says Zaidi. “We finally had the capital we needed to start building on our idea.” 

Throughout 2023 and 2024, they started to scale the business. With the $15 million that they raised in 2025, they finally have the opportunity to take things to the next level. 

“That’s five years of working toward this,” says Zaidi. “There were so many ups and downs along the way.” 

In the past five years of building TransCrypts, Zaidi hasn’t had a single weekend off – meaning he has been working nonstop for seven days a week. 

“SJSU students may not always be the flashiest, but we are some of the hardest working,” says Zaidi. “It’s our ability to grind that makes up for anything we might be lacking.” 

When asked what advice he might have for SJSU students who are looking to succeed in business and beyond, Zaidi’s response was this: “Don’t forget your roots, because that’s ultimately what will make you successful. Business is extremely rewarding to those people who work hard.” 

Zaidi feels that SJSU students are a special breed and is grateful for the education he received while at the university.  

“One of the best decisions of my life was going to San José State,” says Zaidi. “I wouldn’t be here without that school. I have a deep appreciation for the university.” 

As TransCrypts continues to grow and evolve, Zaidi and Zaheer’s focus will be on delivering on what they promised to investors, while also looking for opportunities to create positive change. 

A couple years ago, they used their core technology to support the Ukraine Refugee Crisis, by giving displaced people in Ukraine ownership of their verified medical records. 

“We helped over 100,000 people to date access their medical records. There are studies that say when people have access to their medical records, they have better outcomes of care,” says Zaidi. “That was probably the most rewarding thing I’ve done in the last five years.”  

Zaidi feels that technology in the Bay Area has usually been used to make businesses wealthier, but not to necessarily make an impact. 

“Technology has the potential to do good things. That’s what I’m interested in, and that’s what keeps me going. You have to get up and work for something bigger,” says Zaidi.