Alchemy CEO Nikil Viswanathan and CTO Joseph Lau have spent most of their adult lives cofounding companies, including Alchemy, together.n August 2020, Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau made a big bet. The cofounders of Down to Lunch had foundin their meetup app that rocketed to the number 1 in the Apple App Store, but they had a hunch that building tech tools to help startups build blockchain would be an even better business. Less than two years after the launch, the hunch is worth $10.2 billion.
“This is one of the fastest growing companies that we’ve ever seen. Period,” says Ali Yahya, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, which is raisingfor crypto investments. “Whenever you have this kind of breakout success, it makes sense to continue to support the company and invest.” “One way to bet on crypto is to invest in tokens like Ethereum or Bitcoin, but that is not a traditional investment vehicle for these types of investors,” says D.A. Davidson technology analyst Gil Luria. “These are all investors that are looking for companies that take the traditional route; companies that generate revenues and profits and, therefore, will eventually generate cash flow in crypto.”
Here’s how Alchemy works: Say you run a bespoke bucket hat company and want to sell unique digital versions of your hats. For free, you can develop your site with Alchemy’s blockchain tools–building your NFTs with an Alchemy template and adding blockchain-enabled security. Now if you want fans to pay for the NFTs in Ethereum or get personalized developer support, you need to start paying Alchemy, which will run you upwards of $50 per month.