The threat model is straightforward: the existing mobile network stack leaks your life - location, contacts, call metadata - by design. Cape, founded in 2022 and backed by $61 million in funding, is building a privacy-first mobile network from the ground up to confront this. Founded by alumni from Palantir and Anduril, the company is focused on the infrastructure layer, not just apps, aiming to make digital autonomy a default rather than a premium add-on.
The Cape Mobile Network operates on a core set of technical commitments: minimal data collection, call logs destroyed after 24 hours, daily rotation of network identifiers, and end-to-end encryption of voicemails with user-controlled keys. The stack is built to counter specific, known attack vectors, including SIM swaps and signaling system exploits, which are primary tools for surveillance and account takeover.
Engineering work spans mobile network privacy, applied cryptography, and data security. This is systems-level work aimed at hardening the telecommunications stack itself - cryptography for protecting data at rest and in transit, identifier rotation to frustrate tracking, and network-level defenses against SS7 and similar protocol vulnerabilities. The team is building for the American market.
