H1 2023 Updates: dAPIs, devops, and a brand new dlab fund
Welcome to our H1 update mega-post!
- Upgrade Unlocked.
First the big news: dlab is now operating as a newly independent fund with fresh capital and dedicated resources to fund the next generation of web3 and crypto startups. We are, quite simply, more bullish than we’ve ever been. This new dedicated fund has been in the works for awhile now and we’re extremely excited about the journey ahead.
As many of you already know, dlab got its start in late 2018 as the crypto-focused startup development program inside of SOSV’s larger deep tech fund. Over the past 4 years, we’ve worked together to build an incredible portfolio of two dozen companies, put up some great numbers, and learned a ton, while also continually refining our thesis, our skills, and our methodology. We’re extremely grateful to SOSV for their support throughout this adventure, and excited to share that they’ll be continuing on with us as the anchor LP in our new fund.
As always, we remain committed to working with the most promising early-stage founders and hyper-focused on the growth of this industry. The new fund will provide us with even more resources, focus, and dedicated capital to take all of that to the next level.
2. Portfolio Highlights.
Way too much happening to encapsulate it all here. But let’s try our best:
2.1. API3 dAPIs are rolling out to a blockchain near you. Over 100 data feeds are now available on 11 different networks, including Polygon’s newly-launched zkEVM, where API3 is a launch partner.
2.2. WeatherXM’s weather station network continues to grow steadily, with over 3200 stations online, 500 of which are the new Helium compatible units. They now have stock in 6 warehouses in multiple countries, delivering new orders within a week for most destinations around the world.
Bonus: Check out Protocol Labs’ founders series interview with Manos!
2.3. Kotal Pro is live! Sign up to run your own self-hosted blockchain node SaaS infrastructure, extending the capabilities of their existing open source offering with easy user management, intuitive workspaces, and role-based access control. Spin up nodes for over 10 different blockchain protocols, keep 100% of your staking rewards, and make unlimited API calls without getting rate-limited. Decentralization, right? Kotal works with any cloud hosting provider that supports Kubernetes.
2.4. Pr3sence has onboarded a select number of advertisers and publishers for their beta ad network launch, which includes over half of the top 20 protocols on NEAR. For a live example, check out their work on Ref finance.
2.5. Sugarcane (from the Meshlink team) will be launching their beta, a Robinhood-like experience for DeFi, at the end of April. Their goal is to make it easy for users to access on-chain financial products without navigating technical complexities such as bridging, gas costs, and other related hurdles. Want early access? Here you go.
2.6. Milkomeda will soon allow Cardano holders to access any EVM application (deployed on Milkomeda C1) directly from their ADA wallet. Wrapped smart contracts are coming! And in the meantime, why not check out Jungle Wars, the first on-chain Milkomeda game from Paima Studios?
2.7. Etherscore has reached a major milestone in their development: 100,000 badges have been issued to date (claimed by over 37,000 users!) And they’re just getting started.
2.8. FleetOperate, the blockchain-powered meta-trucking company, has closed their seed round while steadily growing their revenue base month over month. At their current rate of growth, Fleet should be a profitable business before the end of Q2 2023 (!), and be well on their way to being one of the largest trucking companies in Canada this year.
2.9. Contango keeps on moving at a breakneck pace! More than $1.4M has been traded since beta launch, accounting for 30–60% of total volume of Yield on Arbitrum. New UX launching soon — in Q2! — with an improved design and new features.
2.10. Ithil is launching on Arbitrum — the hottest chain in DeFi — very, very soon. What is Ithil? Glad you asked. Ithil is a modular financial interoperability layer for decentralized finance, bundling up complex multi-protocol strategies into easy-to-use products and services, and further augmenting them with an internal lending engine. More details in the linked post, and if this sounds like something you’re interested in, we’d encourage you to join their Discord asap to get early access.
3. Upcoming Events
It was great to see so many of you in Denver. We had an awesome family dinner at the event and got to catch up irl with some of our favorite friends and founders including the teams from Quidli, Pr3sence, Meshlink, Contango, and Credmark. We should probably do that more often, right? Mmhmm.
We’re planning a couple things in Europe over the summer but we’ll be pretty focused on the US for the month of April. Here’s where we’ll be for the remainder of this month:
- April 26–28 Consensus Austin
- April 29–30 ETH Boston
Reach out to us on Twitter if you plan on being in town!
4. Wrapping Up
As you might expect we’re pretty amped about next steps with the new fund, and there are a number of exciting portfolio developments in the pipeline.
It seems like there’s never a dull day in this industry (as the last few months have yet again illustrated) but it’s hard to complain when there’s so much happening so quickly. Stay safe out there, keep building, and stay focused on the things that matter. We’re thankful for all of you and your continued support.
