This Alchemy company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Alchemy works in crypto, with a focus on developer infrastructure. It was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Its latest valuation on record is US$10.2 billion (February 2022). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.
Revenue
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Series C extension | US$200M | US$10.2B | Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake (co-leads) | TechCrunch |
Alchemy timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2017 — Alchemy is founded in San Francisco by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau.
- Feb 2022 — Series C extension: US$200M, valuing the company at US$10.2B. Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake (co-leads).
Investors
Overview
Alchemy builds the infrastructure that developers use to create blockchain applications. Every wallet, exchange, game or finance app that interacts with a blockchain needs reliable access to the network: it must read balances, look up transaction histories, submit new transactions and receive alerts when something happens on-chain. Alchemy provides this access through application programming interfaces (APIs), along with tools that make blockchain development easier, much as cloud providers made it easier to build web applications without running servers.
The company was founded in 2017 by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau, who met at Stanford. In February 2022 it raised US$200 million at a US$10.2 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch, only a few months after a previous round. That made it one of the most valuable crypto infrastructure companies in the world. The valuation was set at the height of the crypto boom and has not been updated by a later priced round that we can verify.
Products
- Node APIs: reliable access to Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base and many other networks.
- Enhanced APIs: ready-made data endpoints for tokens, NFTs, transfers and transaction histories that would otherwise require complex indexing.
- Webhooks and notifications: real-time alerts when addresses receive funds or contracts emit events.
- Smart wallets and account abstraction: tools for building wallets with features such as email logins and sponsored transaction fees.
- Rollup services: infrastructure for companies that want to launch their own layer 2 networks.
- Developer education: courses and documentation for new blockchain developers.
Funding
Alchemy raised from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Addition as crypto activity surged in 2021, reaching a valuation of about US$3.5 billion in late 2021. In February 2022 it announced a further US$200 million round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake, which TechCrunch reported valued the company at US$10.2 billion. The round was described as an extension of its Series C. With a large cash balance from these rounds, Alchemy could continue investing through the crypto downturn that followed.
Business model
Alchemy uses a usage-based pricing model with a free tier. Developers can start building without paying, then move to paid plans as their applications grow and make more requests. Large customers negotiate enterprise contracts with guaranteed performance and support. Revenue depends on the activity of customer applications, so it tends to grow when crypto usage rises and slow during downturns.
Competition
Alchemy competes with Infura from Consensys, QuickNode, Chainstack, Ankr and blockchain-specific providers, as well as with cloud providers such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services that offer blockchain node services. Some large customers run their own nodes to reduce costs and dependence on vendors. Alchemy differentiates through reliability, developer experience and higher-level data APIs.
Alchemy at a glance
Alchemy is a San Francisco blockchain developer platform founded in 2017 by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau. It provides node access, data APIs and wallet tools across many blockchains. It raised US$200 million at a US$10.2 billion valuation in February 2022, co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake.
Timeline
- 2017: founded by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau.
- 2019–2020: launches its developer platform publicly.
- 2021: raises successive rounds as Web3 development booms.
- February 2022: raises US$200 million at US$10.2 billion.
- 2023–2026: adds support for many layer 2 networks, Solana, smart wallets and rollup services.
Why developers use node providers
A blockchain node is a computer running the network's software and storing its data. Running nodes yourself is possible but demanding: they need significant storage, must stay synchronised, require upgrades whenever the network changes, and can fail under heavy traffic. Applications with millions of users need many nodes across regions, with load balancing and monitoring. Node providers offer this as a service, letting developers focus on their applications. The trade-off is dependence on a third party, and the crypto community has long debated whether relying on a few providers undermines decentralisation.
From raw access to data
Basic node access lets developers query the current state of a blockchain, but many applications need richer data, such as all the NFTs an address owns or a complete history of token transfers. Building this requires indexing every block and storing results in databases. Alchemy's enhanced APIs provide this data directly, saving developers months of work. These higher-level services are harder for competitors to copy than basic node access and can command higher prices.
Account abstraction and smart wallets
Traditional crypto wallets require users to manage recovery phrases and pay transaction fees in the network's native token, creating friction for mainstream users. Account abstraction allows wallets built as smart contracts to offer features such as email or passkey logins, spending limits, recovery options and fees paid by the application. Alchemy has invested in tooling for this approach, betting that consumer crypto applications will need wallets that feel as easy as signing up for a web service.
Who funds Alchemy
Alchemy's investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silver Lake, which co-led its 2022 round, along with Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Addition.
Who uses Alchemy
Alchemy's customers include wallets, exchanges, NFT marketplaces, decentralised finance protocols, games and enterprises building blockchain products. Many independent developers also use its free tier.
Valuation context
At US$10.2 billion, Alchemy's 2022 valuation reflected expectations that Web3 development would grow as fast as cloud computing had. Activity slowed sharply after 2022, then partly recovered, so the valuation should be read as a historical mark. Our guides to the largest private crypto companies and developer tools companies compare Alchemy with peers.
Risks
- Dated valuation: the last priced round dates from February 2022.
- Price competition: basic node access is increasingly commoditised.
- Customer concentration: large customers may run their own infrastructure.
- Crypto cycles: developer and user activity fluctuates with markets.
- Network changes: supporting many fast-changing blockchains requires constant investment.
Questions for developers
- Which networks and data APIs do you need?
- What are rate limits and costs at your expected scale?
- What uptime guarantees and support come with enterprise plans?
- How easily could you switch providers or use several at once?
A typical build with Alchemy
Imagine a startup building a mobile app that lets users collect digital items and pay with stablecoins. The team uses Alchemy's node APIs to connect to a layer 2 network, its NFT API to show users the items they own, and webhooks to update balances as soon as payments arrive. To avoid asking users to manage recovery phrases, the team uses smart wallet tools that let users sign in with email and have transaction fees paid by the app. As the app grows, its API usage increases and it moves from the free tier to a paid plan. If the app becomes very large, the team might negotiate an enterprise contract or run some infrastructure itself to reduce costs.
This path shows both the strength and the challenge of Alchemy's model. It is easy to start, which brings in many developers, but the largest customers have the most incentive to negotiate lower prices or build in-house.
What to watch
Watch for new funding, adoption of smart wallets, rollup services revenue, stablecoin-related applications and competition on pricing.
Takeaways
Developers can build blockchain apps without managing infrastructure. Founders can see how developer tools win through free tiers and good documentation. Investors should treat the 2022 valuation as historical and watch usage trends.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.
Frequently asked questions
What does Alchemy do?
Alchemy is a crypto / developer infrastructure company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It was founded in 2017.
What is Alchemy's valuation?
Alchemy was valued at US$10.2 billion as of February 2022, according to TechCrunch. Private company valuations are set at funding rounds or share sales and can change significantly between them.
How much revenue does Alchemy make?
Alchemy is a private company and has not publicly disclosed its revenue. Figures on third-party sites are usually modelled estimates rather than numbers reported by the company.
What was Alchemy's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a series c extension in Feb 2022: US$200M, at a valuation of US$10.2B. Source: TechCrunch.
Who are Alchemy's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Addition.
Who founded Alchemy?
Alchemy was founded in 2017 by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau.
Is Alchemy a public company?
No. Alchemy is a private company (private, venture backed), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is Alchemy headquartered?
Alchemy is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.