Development work on Zcash began in 2013 by Johns Hopkins professor Matthew Green and some of his graduate students.[1] The development was completed by the for-profit Zcash Company, led by Zooko Wilcox, a Colorado-based computer security specialist and cypherpunk.[5] The Zcash Company raised over $3 million[when?] from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to complete development of Zcash.[5]