Alchemy
also invests · investor profileUnicorn · $10.2BFounded 2017 · 28 known investors
Alchemy is a platform layer that enables developers to build applications on blockchain networks. The company provides infrastructure and APIs to simplify blockchain development for a global audience.
Also known as Alchemy Insights, Inc. · AlchemyPlatform
Founders & leadership
Alchemy was founded in 2017 by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau.
Investors · 28
Also in the syndicate · 1
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Alchemy is a blockchain developer platform that supplies the infrastructure and APIs used to build, deploy and scale onchain applications. Its stated mission is to "bring blockchain to a billion people," positioning itself as the platform layer between developers and blockchain networks, analogous to the role cloud infrastructure plays for the modern internet.
The product set spans a Node API for RPC queries across more than 100 chains, Data APIs covering prices, balances, NFTs and transaction history, webhooks for streaming onchain events, gasless (sponsored) transactions, Solana-specific infrastructure including RPC, gRPC and validators, and dedicated single-tenant infrastructure. An underlying globally distributed routing engine marketed as Cortex is described by the company as making applications 2.5x faster and 5x more reliable. Alchemy also offers an agent-oriented stack: a hosted MCP server exposing 160+ blockchain tools, a CLI, agent skills, agent wallets, an agent payment endpoint (AgentPay), a spending card for agents, and an agent self-signup flow compatible with MCP clients such as Claude Code and Cursor.
The company reports serving 150,000+ teams across 197 countries, supporting 100+ blockchains, and 99.99% uptime, with more than $1 trillion in transactions processed annually. Named users and references include OpenSea, Polymarket, Zerion, Solflare, Tools for Humanity, Degen, Usual, Slash and Symphony; press and company materials also cite JP Morgan, Robinhood, Visa, Stripe, Adobe, Augur, CryptoKitties, Kyber and Radar Relay.
Founding story
Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau met as teaching assistants for a Stanford databases class in the first quarter the course was opened online to the public, scaling from roughly 100 in-person students to about 100,000 online; they wrote code overnight to generate completion certificates for all of them. After Stanford they built eight to nine products together, including the social app Down To Lunch, which went viral among high school and college students and briefly topped the App Store before winding down in the summer of 2017. As Down To Lunch declined, the pair moved into crypto, first building an analytics platform for hedge funds and traders. Building it revealed that blockchain development was 10-100x harder than conventional development and that adequate tooling did not exist — Lau likened the state of blockchain tooling to "trying to build skyscrapers with picks and shovels" — so in 2017 they pivoted to release the underlying infrastructure as the product.
Business model
Alchemy sells blockchain infrastructure as a developer platform: node access (RPC/gRPC), data APIs, webhooks, wallet and gas-sponsorship services, and single-tenant dedicated infrastructure. Access is offered on a self-serve basis with a free entry tier alongside a sales-led motion for larger enterprises, per the company site. Contrary Research characterizes the offering as node infrastructure and API services that let companies build and scale decentralized applications without operating their own blockchain infrastructure.
Sources do not disclose pricing or revenue figures. The site indicates a free entry tier with paid/enterprise engagement via sales, including dedicated single-tenant infrastructure.
Traction
Company-reported: 150,000+ teams on the platform, more than $1 trillion in transactions annually, 100+ supported blockchains, 99.99% uptime, and users in 197 countries. Third-party reported: approximately 300 employees and $564 million total funding as of September 2024 (Contrary Research); $10.2 billion valuation in February 2022 (Financial IT, Forbes).
Latest developments
Recent positioning emphasizes financial-services use cases — banking, stablecoins, fintechs, digital assets, agentic payments and DeFi — and an agentic product line including the Alchemy MCP server with 160+ blockchain tools, Agent Wallets, AgentPay, an Agent Card, a CLI and agent skills compatible with MCP clients. Joe Lau, formerly CTO, now serves as President focused on fintech and financial-services adoption of blockchain, working with global institutions on payment and settlement rails.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Described by Contrary Research as a leading blockchain developer platform and by the company as the leading blockchain development platform. Reported metrics — 150,000+ teams, 100+ chains, $1T+ in annual transaction volume — and a customer roster spanning crypto-native firms (OpenSea, Polymarket, Zerion) and large financial and consumer institutions cited by the company (JP Morgan, Robinhood, Visa, Stripe, Adobe) indicate a broad presence in the crypto infrastructure category. Private valuation peaked at $10.2 billion in February 2022, with Forbes estimating roughly $6 billion as of April 2025.
Alchemy positions itself on breadth of chain coverage (100+ chains), reliability (99.99% uptime, single-tenant dedicated infrastructure) and performance from its Cortex routing layer, which the company claims delivers 2.5x faster and 5x more reliable applications; a customer reference cites block delivery up to 35% faster than other providers during peak load. It also emphasizes an integrated agentic stack (MCP server, CLI, agent wallets and payments) not described for its infrastructure alone. Contrary Research frames the differentiation as reducing blockchain development complexity, noting that building a blockchain application was described by the founders as 10-100 times harder than a non-blockchain application.
Technology
Globally distributed blockchain infrastructure branded Cortex that routes trillions of queries and, per the company, makes applications 2.5x faster and 5x more reliable. Components include JSON-RPC node endpoints across 100+ chains, Solana-specific RPC/gRPC and validators, data APIs for prices, balances, NFTs and transaction history, webhooks for real-time onchain events, gas sponsorship for gasless transactions, dedicated single-tenant infrastructure, and an agent layer consisting of a hosted MCP server with 160+ blockchain tools, a CLI, agent skills, agent wallets and agent payment endpoints.
Go-to-market
Two-track motion combining self-serve developer onboarding (free tier, public docs, CLI and MCP-based agent signup requiring no API keys) with an enterprise sales channel ("talk to sales") targeting fintechs and financial institutions. Developer credibility is reinforced through customer testimonials from crypto-native teams, and Alchemy Ventures, launched in December 2021, invests in existing clients.
Blockchain and web3 application developers, from solo builders to large enterprises, plus fintechs, banks, digital asset platforms, stablecoin issuers, DeFi protocols and, increasingly, AI agent developers. Referenced users include OpenSea, Polymarket, Zerion, Solflare, Tools for Humanity, Degen, Usual, Slash, Symphony, Adobe, and (per the company) JP Morgan, Robinhood, Visa and Stripe.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company states it powers millions of users in 197 countries worldwide.
History
The company was founded in 2017 (Contrary Research states August 2017) after the founders pivoted from a crypto analytics platform for hedge funds and traders to the underlying infrastructure they had built for it. Alchemy raised a Series A in 2019 during a crypto downturn, and its growth accelerated with the subsequent market recovery. In October 2021 it was valued at $3.5 billion; in February 2022 a $200 million round led by Lightspeed and Silver Lake, with Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, Pantera Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson participating, valued it at $10.2 billion. Alchemy Ventures, an investment vehicle backing existing clients, was announced in December 2021. As of September 2024, Contrary Research listed total funding of $564 million, Series C stage, and about 300 employees; Forbes in April 2025 estimated the company was worth around $6 billion following a broad decline in private tech valuations. Note: Forbes' profile page states Alchemy was "founded in 2020," which conflicts with the 2017 founding date given by the company and other sources.
Risks & controversies
Sources disclose no controversies. Noted risks visible in the material: valuation compression, with Forbes estimating the company at roughly $6 billion in April 2025 versus the $10.2 billion February 2022 private mark; exposure to crypto market cycles, illustrated by the 2019 Series A raised during a crypto winter; and reliance on continued blockchain developer and enterprise adoption. Source discrepancy also exists on founding year (2017 per the company and Contrary Research; 2020 per Forbes).
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
The Alchemy mafia →8 people who came through Alchemy went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 7
by search overlap
Companies competing with Alchemy for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsAlchemy announced a $200 million funding round that nearly tripled its valuation to $10.2 billion, roughly three months after an October round at a $3.5 billion valuation.
$200M source ↗
Alchemy announced the launch of Alchemy Ventures, an investment arm that invests in current clients with the stated goal of bootstrapping the industry.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Alchemyalchemy.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Alchemy do?
- Alchemy is a blockchain developer platform providing node, data and wallet APIs across 100+ chains for fintechs and web3 teams.
- Who founded Alchemy?
- Alchemy was founded by Nikil Viswanathan, Joe Lau in 2017.
- Who are Alchemy's investors?
- Alchemy's investors include Pantera Capital, DCVC (Data Collective), Founders Fund, 3cubed Ventures, a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, Archetype, Beacon VC and 19 more.