Alchemy

Web3 infrastructure startup Tenderly takes on Infura, Alchemy with new node offering • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Alchemy, Crypto, Infura, tenderlyNo Comments

Web3 developer tooling startup Tenderly is getting into the node game with a new product it announced today called Web3 Gateway. The product will help web3 developers read, stream and analyze blockchain data, according to the company. The offering builds on the company’s observability stack, which it says indexes over nine billion transactions across more than twenty blockchain networks. While many blockchain and crypto companies have struggled to grow amid unfavorable market conditions, infrastructure providers such as Tenderly have remained relatively resilient to the headwinds, buoyed by the trend of steady developer interest in building web3 products. The new offering is a sign of competition between web3 infrastructure providers heating up, as it puts the startup in direct competition with ConsenSys, the company that owns popular node-as-a-service provider Infura, and Alchemy, another widely-used node provider in the industry. Prior to this, Tenderly was focused solely on the smart contract space with its dashboard and API that helped engineers develop, test and monitor the health of decentralized applications. Node providers, meanwhile, are often compared to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for web3 companies because they provide a critical layer of blockchain infrastructure. Belgrade, Serbia-based Tenderly last raised a $40 million Series B announced in March this year, just before crypto prices started a substantial descent. The financing came just months after the startup’s Series A round and it was announced in the same month as Alchemy’s $200 million Series C extension, which valued the latter company at $10.2 billion. The company says its platform is used by tens of thousands of developers from apps such as Uniswap, Yearn Finance and OpenSea and that it works with the majority of the top 100 Ethereum projects, ZebethMedia reported in March. Yasmin Razavi, a growth investor at Spark Capital who helped lead the firm’s investment in Tenderly, told ZebethMedia that the startup’s new offering came as a result of its developers finding they could not rely on existing node providers for their purposes and deciding to instead build out that capability themselves. “The issues you hear with Alchemy and Infura are mostly around their inability to scale,” Razavi said. According to Razavi, customers report that Tenderly’s offering is three times as performant as Alchemy’s based on beta testing the company has conducted. While its performance has yet to be validated in the public realm, it’s clear that this offering brings Tenderly closer to being a full-suite provider of web3 infrastructure services and therefore a more formidable force in the subsector.

Alchemy, Ava Labs and BlockFi break down funding in a bear market at TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 21, 2022Posted in Alchemy, BlockFi, Crypto, crypto markets, cryptocurrencies, Fintech, Flori Marquez, Nikil Viswanathan, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022No Comments

Bears hibernate during the coldest months, but there’s nowhere to hide from a bear market during a crypto winter. As the entire sector faces what looks to be a long stretch of uncertainty, young founders must find a way to keep the funds flowing. But how? This timely topic is why we’re thrilled that industry veterans Flori Marquez, founder and COO at BlockFi; Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder and CEO at Alchemy; and John Wu, president of Ava Labs, will join us onstage for a panel discussion called “Fundraising in Crypto Winter” at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami. If anyone understands the highs, lows and overall volatility of the crypto market, it’s the three people on this panel. Marquez’s BlockFi recently signed a deal giving FTX US the option to buy the crypto lender she founded. Viswanathan’s Alchemy, one of the fastest-growing companies in technology history, raised a $200 million Series C1 last February, giving the web3 developer infrastructure startup a valuation just north of $10 billion. Meanwhile, Wu’s Ava Labs is reportedly raising a $350 million funding round and looking at a potential valuation of slightly more than $5 billion. It’s a wild season for bulls and bears alike. We’re curious to hear the panel’s take on how fundraising, cap tables and valuations have shifted given the market conditions — and whether startups will see recovery within the near term. We’ll also ask these founders what they’re focused on when it comes to investing in crypto startups or projects, and which subsectors have the most opportunity for growth in a bear market. Learning how these three operators built and scaled their own startups through previous turbulent cycles in the crypto markets will be informative. Both Marquez and Wu entered crypto with traditional finance backgrounds while Viswanathan comes from Big Tech. Hearing how fundraising in the crypto space differs from those worlds — and how it has evolved from prior bear markets — will also be a worthwhile perspective. Don’t miss what’s sure to be a fascinating and valuable discussion. Flori Marquez, BlockFi founder and COO, oversees the company’s operations, client service, people, engineering and retail product teams. Since founding the company with Zac Prince in 2017, Marquez has built and managed critical functions, including the trading, risk, compliance and marketing teams. Marquez has spent her career managing alternative lending products. She served as head of portfolio management — and helped build, scale and optimize a $125 million portfolio — at Bond Street (acquired by Goldman Sachs). She managed all operations from point of origination through default and litigation. Prior to Bond Street, Marquez helped develop and maintain institutional partnerships at Oak Hill Advisors, a $30 billion fixed-income asset manager. Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, a leading blockchain developer platform valued at more than $10 billion. The company is backed by top investors, including Coatue, a16z, Lightspeed, Silver Lake, Pantera and many more. Viswanathan received his BS and MS in computer science from Stanford, and formerly worked in product management at Google, Microsoft and Facebook. A serial entrepreneur, Viswanathan co-created the social app Down To Lunch, and he was listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. As president of Ava Labs, John Wu aims to open up financial services and products for everyone. He brings more than 20 years of expertise as a fintech executive and technology investor to creating a blockchain-enabled solution for originating, issuing and trading financial assets. Previously, Wu built and led the digital assets business at SharesPost, where he served as CEO of the Digital Assets Group. Prior to that, he was a technology investor and the founder of Sureview Capital, a global hedge fund backed by the Blackstone Group. Wu began his investment career at Tiger Management before managing a global technology portfolio at Kingdon Capital. He received his MBA from Harvard University and holds a BS in economics from Cornell University. TC Sessions: Crypto takes place on November 17 in Miami. Take advantage of our Early Bird pricing and save $150. Buy your pass today, and then join the leading voices and visionaries in the blockchain, DeFi, NFT and web3 communities. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.