Aptos
also invests Β· investor profileNew York City, US Β· Founded 2021 Β· 174 employees on LinkedIn Β· 13 known investors
Aptos Labs develops a Layer 1 blockchain platform using the Move programming language and parallel execution technology, serving developers and users building decentralized applications.
Also known as Aptos Labs
Founders & leadership
Aptos was founded in 2021 by Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh.
Investors Β· 13
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Aptos Labs is a private blockchain technology company that develops the Aptos blockchain, a Layer-1 network built with the Move programming language. It was founded in 2021 by Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh, former Meta employees who worked on the company's Diem blockchain project; many other former Libra/Diem staff subsequently joined. The founding team is credited by the company with creating the Move language, the Move Prover, the Block-STM parallel execution engine, and the Narwhal and Bullshark consensus mechanisms. Wikipedia lists the headquarters as Palo Alto, California; the company's own timeline notes the opening of a New York City office in November 2023.
Beyond the base chain, Aptos Labs ships end-user and developer products: Petra Wallet (self-custodial asset storage), Aptos Connect (Web3 login and transactions via Google, Twitter or Facebook OAuth), Aptos Explorer (a block explorer covering transactions, blocks, validators and analytics), Aptos Names (on-chain identity registration) and Geomi, a developer platform offering managed API access, no-code indexing of on-chain data, and a Gas Station for sponsoring user transaction fees. The chain was designed to address scalability and efficiency limitations of earlier blockchains; Geomi's site cites a peak of 30,000 transactions per second, 99.99% uptime and gas fees up to 100x lower than other Layer-1 chains.
The company has pursued enterprise, institutional and entertainment partnerships including Microsoft, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, SK Telecom, Brevan Howard and NBCUniversal, and participates in phase 2 of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's e-HKD pilot. It has also invested and acquired: an equity investment in Indian short-video app Chingari (February 2023), the acquisition of Japanese Palette Chain developer HashPalette (October 2024), and leading a $10 million round for gaming network KGeN (November 2024).
Founding story
Aptos Labs was founded in 2021 by Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh following the dissolution of Meta's Diem project, an effort to build a stablecoin and blockchain ecosystem. Both founders had worked on Diem at Meta and used that experience to start the company, joined by many other former Libra employees. Avery Ching had led Meta's crypto platform team, covering wallet infrastructure through L1 blockchain development, and previously served as tech lead for Meta's batch processing teams (Spark, Apache Giraph, Hive/Hadoop/Corona and distributed scheduling). The company's own timeline dates its founding to January 2022, when it also raised seed funding led by a16z crypto.
Business model
Aptos Labs conducts research and development for the Aptos blockchain and builds products and applications on top of it, spanning consumer wallets and identity, developer infrastructure, and institutional/enterprise blockchain platforms delivered with partners such as Microsoft, SK Telecom and Brevan Howard. The sources do not state how the company charges for these products.
Traction
The company reports mainnet operation since October 2022 and a range of institutional and enterprise engagements, including Aptos Ascend with Microsoft, Brevan Howard and SK Telecom, Libre's launch of Brevan Howard, BlackRock and Hamilton Lane funds on Aptos in September 2024, a long-term NBCUniversal agreement, Google Cloud running a validator, and selection for phase 2 of Hong Kong's e-HKD pilot. Wikipedia reports $400 million raised across seed and Series A. No user, revenue or transaction-volume figures are given in the sources.
Latest developments
The most recent developments in the sources are the December 2024 leadership transition in which Mo Shaikh stepped down as CEO and remained a strategic adviser while co-founder and CTO Avery Ching became CEO; the November 2024 expansion of the advisory board with Grayscale and OpenAI veterans; the November 2024 $10 million round Aptos Labs led for KGeN at a $500 million valuation; and the October 2024 acquisition of HashPalette. Geomi's developer platform currently markets API access, no-code indexing and a gas station product.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Aptos Labs is positioned as the developer of one of the Move-based Layer-1 blockchains that emerged from Meta's Diem effort, backed by large venture and financial investors and partnered with major cloud, telecom, media and asset-management institutions. Sources do not provide comparative market share data.
Stated differentiators are the Move language's safety and verifiability properties, parallel execution via Block-STM, high stated throughput and uptime with low fees, an integrated first-party product stack from wallet and social login through developer APIs and gas sponsorship, and a founding team drawn from Meta's Diem/Libra blockchain effort.
Technology
The Aptos blockchain is a Layer-1 network using the Move programming language, which the company describes as simple by design and amenable to decompilation, runtime verification and code inspection. The founding team is credited with the Move language, Move Prover, the Block-STM parallel execution engine and the Narwhal and Bullshark consensus mechanisms. The network is stated to reach a peak of 30,000 transactions per second with 99.99% uptime and gas fees up to 100x lower than other Layer-1 chains. Supporting technology includes an on-chain randomness API for proof-of-stake blockchains, a Unity SDK, and Geomi's managed APIs, indexing service and gas station.
Go-to-market
Distribution runs through developer tooling (Geomi API access, no-code indexing, gas sponsorship) aimed at dApp builders and game studios, consumer products such as Petra Wallet and Aptos Connect, ecosystem programs run with the Aptos Foundation (including an inaugural summit with 30+ ecosystem projects), and co-marketing partnerships with large technology, media and financial institutions including Microsoft, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, NBCUniversal, Brevan Howard and SK Telecom.
Web3 developers and dApp builders, game studios, brands running loyalty programs, end users of self-custodial wallets and Web3 logins, and institutional/financial participants such as asset managers and banks using tokenized fund and CBDC pilots.
Geography
Headquarters listed as Palo Alto, California (Wikipedia), with a New York City office opened in November 2023. International activity includes entry into Japan via the HashPalette acquisition, participation in Hong Kong's e-HKD pilot, an APAC accessibility partnership with Alibaba Cloud, an event in Seoul in September 2024, and work with India-focused partners such as Chingari, STAN and KGeN.
History
Founded in 2021 (company timeline cites January 2022 for founding and seed funding led by a16z crypto), Aptos Labs raised a Series A in July 2022 with participation from Dragonfly, Apollo and Franklin Templeton, and launched the Aptos mainnet in October 2022. Partnerships followed with Google Cloud, NPIXEL and MoonPay (November 2022), a Unity SDK for Web3 gaming (February 2023), Microsoft on AI and blockchain (August 2023), Alibaba Cloud (November 2023) and a New York City office opening the same month. In 2024 the company launched an on-chain randomness API (February), Aptos Ascend with Microsoft, Brevan Howard and SK Telecom (April), extended its NBCUniversal partnership (June), acquired HashPalette to enter Japan (October), led a $10 million round in KGeN (November), and named co-founder Avery Ching CEO in December 2024 after Mo Shaikh stepped down to become a strategic adviser.
Risks & controversies
A Fortune article cited by Wikipedia references a crypto winter and a $1 billion lawsuit against the CEO as potential obstacles to the company's plans; the sources provide no further detail. Note also the existence of unrelated companies named Aptos, Inc. (an Atlanta-based retail technology vendor acquired by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking affiliates in 2020), which creates a name-collision risk in databases.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β 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 β not independently audited.
Competitors Β· 5
by search overlap
Companies competing with Aptos for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline Β· 19
launches, deals, and filingsCo-founder and CEO Mo Shaikh stepped down to "start a new chapter" while remaining a strategic adviser; co-founder and CTO Avery Ching succeeded him as CEO.
Aptos Labs led a $10 million funding round for decentralized gaming network KGeN, bringing the network's valuation to $500 million.
$10M source β
Aptos Labs acquired HashPalette Inc., developer of Palette Chain, expanding into the Japanese blockchain market.
Institutional blockchain platform launched in partnership with Microsoft, Brevan Howard and SK Telecom.
One of 11 firms chosen by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for phase 2 of the e-HKD pilot; with Boston Consulting Group and Hang Seng Bank it will test settling a tokenized fund using digital money on a public blockchain.
Collaboration to explore integrating blockchain technology with AI and data services, including tools for banks on Azure.
Launch of the Aptos mainnet, described by the company as the first Move-based blockchain.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
Pact Finance secures $7M investment led by Tether on Aptoscryptobriefing.com Β· Jul 2026βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Aptosaptoslabs.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Aptos do?
- Aptos Labs builds the Move-based Aptos Layer-1 blockchain plus wallet, explorer and developer tooling for Web3 apps.
- Who founded Aptos?
- Aptos was founded by Avery Ching, Mo Shaikh in 2021.
- Who are Aptos's investors?
- Aptos's investors include a16z crypto, Dragonfly, Andreessen Horowitz, Arrington Capital, Bixin Capital, Bixin Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures and 5 more.
- Where is Aptos headquartered?
- Aptos is headquartered in New York City, US.