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Mysten Labs

Category: AI Infrastructure

A Web3 infrastructure company building foundational tools to accelerate the adoption of a decentralized internet. Mysten Labs was founded in 2021. The company is led by Evan Cheng. Based in Palo Alto, USA. Team size: 101-250. Total funding raised: $336M. Latest round: Series B. Key investors include FTX Ventures, a16z crypto, Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Circle Ventures.

Founded
2021
Headquarters
Palo Alto, USA
Team size
101-250
Total funding
$336M

Value proposition

To provide a highly scalable, secure, and user-friendly blockchain infrastructure that enables the next generation of decentralized applications and experiences for the next billion users in Web3.

Products and solutions

Sui Blockchain: A high-performance, horizontally scalable Layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain., Sui Move: A powerful and secure smart contract programming language adapted from Move., Enoki: A platform that allows enterprises to easily integrate blockchain features into their products without extensive Web3 expertise., Sui Wallet: An open-source wallet for users and developers to interact with the Sui network., Sui Explorer: A tool for analyzing and tracking on-chain data and network metrics.

Unique value

Mysten Labs is unique due to its founding team, consisting of former lead architects of Meta's Diem blockchain and the Move programming language. Their core innovation lies in the Sui blockchain's object-centric data model, which contrasts with the account-based model of most other blockchains. This allows for parallel processing of transactions, leading to high throughput and low latency.

Target customer

Web3 developers, creators, and enterprises looking to build high-performance, scalable decentralized applications.

Industries served

Gaming, Social Media, Finance (DeFi), Artificial Intelligence

Technology advantage

The primary technological advantage is Sui's architecture, which enables horizontal scaling to meet application demand, maintaining low costs and high transaction speeds. The Sui Move language enhances security by preventing common smart contract vulnerabilities like reentrancy attacks. Their business advantage comes from focusing on developer-friendly tools and strategic partnerships to foster a robust ecosystem from the ground up.

How they differentiate

Mysten Labs differentiates itself through its Sui blockchain, which uses a unique object-centric data model and the Move programming language. This architecture enables parallel processing of transactions, leading to high throughput and low latency. Unlike traditional blockchains that focus on accounts, Sui's model is designed for managing digital assets more efficiently and securely, aiming to solve scalability and usability challenges faced by competitors.

Main competitors

Aptos Labs, Solana, Ethereum

Key partnerships

BytePlus (ByteDance): Collaboration to integrate BytePlus's data warehouse and machine learning solutions with the Sui blockchain to enhance AI capabilities for Web3 applications., NCSOFT: A leading global gaming company that invested $15 million in Mysten Labs to explore collaborations in digital entertainment., Team Liquid: A multi-year partnership to build a new fan loyalty platform on the Sui blockchain., BlockVision: A strategic partnership to provide enhanced data and infrastructure services for developers on the Sui network.

Notable customers

Playtron, NHN, Revolut, BytePlus (ByteDance), Google Cloud

Major milestones

Founded in 2021 by former executives from Meta's Novi Financial division., Raised $36M in a Series A funding round in December 2021., Announced a $300M Series B funding round in September 2022, valuing the company at over $2 billion., Successfully launched the Sui Mainnet in May 2023., Established key partnerships with major gaming, tech, and financial companies to expand the Sui ecosystem.

Growth metrics

As a private company, Mysten Labs does not disclose specific revenue or user metrics. Traction is primarily measured by the growth and activity on its main product, the Sui blockchain, including metrics like Total Value Locked (TVL), transaction volume, and number of projects building on the ecosystem.

Market positioning

Mysten Labs is a prominent venture-backed company in the Web3 infrastructure space, positioning itself as a builder of a next-generation, highly scalable Layer 1 blockchain. With its strong founding team from Meta's Diem project and significant funding, it is a major challenger to established players like Ethereum and other high-performance blockchains like Solana and Aptos.

Geographic focus

While headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Mysten Labs has a global focus, aiming to attract developers and users from all major tech hubs worldwide to build on the Sui ecosystem. Its operations and community are distributed globally, typical for the decentralized nature of the blockchain industry.

Patents and IP

Information not publicly available.

About Evan Cheng

Co-Founder and CEO of Mysten Labs. Previously served as the Head of Research and Development at Novi (Meta's crypto wallet) and Director of Engineering for Blockchain at Meta. Prior to that, he spent over 10 years at Apple, where he was a Senior Manager for LLVM and Compilers.

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