Blockchain Builder Alchemy Adds Former Disney, Citigroup Execs as Investors
Alchemy, the fast-growing infrastructure provider for Ethereum and other blockchains, revealed on Wednesday that its recent $80 million fundraising round attracted a number of high-profile executives as strategic investors.
The most prominent names on the investor list are the former CEO of Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, as well as DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul and former chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
Alchemy is not a household name in the crypto world, but it has become a key behind-the-scenes service provider to exchanges, developers, and others who rely on it to interact with Ethereum. More recently, Alchemy has expanded its software kit to cater to the Flow blockchain and to so-called Layer 2 solutions like Polygon.
The company, which touts itself as the Amazon Web Services of the crypto world, has increased its revenue tenfold since April and is highly profitable, according to a person with its operations. Its customers include major NFT providers, including Open Sea and Nifty Gateway, as well as UNICEF, global banks, and a top-four accounting firm.
The new roster of strategic investors—a term that describes prominent backers who provide advice as well as money—also includes the CEO of crypto forensics firm Chainalysis, the founder of Checkout.com, and the DJ Zedd.
In an interview with Decrypt, co-founder Nikil Viswanathan said the strategic investors, some of whom possess no crypto background, will help Alchemy navigate the broader world of business and corporate finance.
Viswanathan hinted the company may raise money again by the end of the year and that it is eyeing acquisitions in the crypto infrastructure field and beyond. He also said Alchemy has been asked by other blockchain projects to deploy its tools—which include debugging and node interactions—on their platforms. He indicated the company will begin doing so in coming months, though he did not specify which blockchains it intended to service.
4 August 2021 14:30