Blockchain Startup Alchemy Raises $15M to Accelerate Global Expansion

After the first round of a Series A funding, the San Francisco based blockchain firm Alchemy has announced that it has raised additional $15 million.

The startup was founded by two computer science students, Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau, who were classmates at Stanford. Together, they also created a social mobile application called Down to Lunch which helps users find hangout-ready friends using emojis.

Google chairman John Hennesy, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang were among the figures who took part in the funding campaign. Mr. Yang, who is rarely seen speaking on such events, said that he believes Alchemy has what it takes to accelerate the adoption of blockchain in the industry.

“For any new technology, developer infrastructure and tools are required to enable broader application development and adoption. We have seen this happen in previous tech waves like PC and the web. Alchemy is trying to do the same thing for the blockchain space.”

Creating the infrastructure for facilitating trading in digital assets is a complicated and costly job. For any firm to develop its own blockchain or cryptocurrency infrastructure requires tremendous dedication of funds to research projects. Iterations upon iterations of finessing finally result in a fool-proof blockchain platform that can serve the requirements of the firm adequately. This is where Alchemy comes in. It allows crypto companies to outsource their “infrastructure” problems to Alchemy.

One of the toughest challenges of creating such a digital infrastructure is that it must be scalable, effective and fool-proof. The major offering of the startup is its capacity to create tailored developer tools that are specific to each firm’s needs. The owners at Alchemy believe that by outsourcing digital infrastructure to the firm, client companies will be saving time and money.

Mr. Viswanathan, the co-founder of Alchemy, said that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in general are going to develop and mature in the same way as other great things of our time. Personal computers, the internet and many other technologies of our time have undergone similar growth curve. And so, according to him, the idea is to create a blockchain-powered platform where the digital infrastructure and the developer tools (needed to tailor it) are present to facilitate clients. This is how blockchain and digital currency can be mainstreamed for adoption in the industry.

Previously, Mr. Viswanathan and Mr. Lau have worked at several giant tech companies including Google, Microsoft and notable universities such as Stanford and MIT. They believe they possess the necessary industry knowledge to undertake and develop the concept of Alchemy.