Blockchain startups have grown in popularity for new founders and venture capital investment alike. These startups utilize the transparency and security of the blockchain to build innovative solutions for financial assets, digital currency trading, and smart contracts.
Here at Startup Savant, we love startup culture. That’s why we identified the most exciting, innovative, and creative blockchain technology startups to watch in 2024 and beyond. From peer-to-peer crypto exchanges to digital asset management — these are the best blockchain startups to watch.
Top Blockchain Technology Startups to Watch
Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation, tech, and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the top blockchain startups of 2024 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.
Disclaimer: With so many exciting blockchain technology startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.
1. Chainalysis
- Location: New York, New York
- Founders: Jan Moller, Jonathan Levin, Michael Gronager
- Founded In: 2014
- Funding: Series F, $536.6 Million
- Investors Include: Accel, Dragoneer Investment Group, Blackstone Group
Chainalysis is a platform that provides banks, government agencies, and other members of the blockchain ecosystem with a litany of resources to help identify and eliminate hacked or stolen funds. Their anti-money-laundering software aims to create safer interactions for all.
2. Re
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Founders: Karn Saroya
- Founded In: 2022
- Funding: Seed, $14 Million
- Investors Include: Framework Ventures, SiriusPoint, Defy.vc
Re is a reinsurance startup built on the Avalanche blockchain. The startup bills itself as a ‘decentralized Lloyds of London’ by leveraging the power of blockchain technology to allow users across the globe to back insurance risks through alternative assets.
3. Coinbase
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Founders: Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam
- Founded In: 2012
- Funding: Post-IPO Debt, $678.7 Million
- Investors Include: Aya Holding Inc, Cashmere, Nomad
Coinbase is a cryptocurrency app that allows users, including merchants, consumers, and traders, to buy and sell crypto currencies while building a digital portfolio of their investments. The app also provides several merchant processing systems and tools that are compatible with some of the largest websites on the internet.
4. Paxful
- Location: Wilmington, Delaware
- Founders: Artur Schaback, Ray Youssef
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Undisclosed
- Investors Include: Private
Unlike its competitors, Paxful is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace that also serves as a universal money translator. With a platform that includes over 300 financial networks, Paxful offers opportunities to both buyers and sellers alike that may not have access to banking services.
5. Coinme
- Location: Seattle, Washington
- Founders: Michael Smyers, Neil Bergquist
- Founded In: 2014
- Funding: Seed, $30.6 Million
- Investors Include: MoneyGram International, Digital Currency Group
Coinme is a cryptocurrency startup that aims to make investing in crypto accessible to a wider population by partnering with Coinstar to create Bitcoin kiosks across the US. Users can make cash investments in crypto using the kiosks and keep track of their financial transactions through the Coinme app.
6. Mythical Games
- Location: Sherman Oaks, California
- Founders: Cameron Thacker, Chris Downs, Jamie Jackson, John Linden, Rudy Koch
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series C, $297 Million
- Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, One Team Partners, Binance Labs
Mythical Games is a studio creating video games and online experiences. Most notably, their blockchain-based game Blankos was released in 2019. The ethos of this startup is to provide financial agency through digital assets, secondary markets, and verifiable scarcity.
7. Republic
- Location: New York, New York
- Founders: Kendrick Nguyen, Léo Galley, Paul Menchov, Peter Green
- Founded In: 2016
- Funding: Series B, $214 Million
- Investors Include: Moontide Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Hudson River Trading
Republic is an investment platform that leverages the power of blockchain technology to help users invest in cryptocurrencies, real estate, and more. The goal of this startup is to make building an angel investment portfolio accessible to more people interested in this type of investing.
8. Spring Labs
- Location: Marina Del Rey, California
- Founders: Adam Jiwan, Anna Fridman, John Sun
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Series B, $68.8 Million
- Investors Include: TransUnion, GreatPoint Ventures, General Motors Ventures
With Spring Labs’s platform, users can expect faster and more secure information exchange due to the startup’s leveraging of blockchain transparency and data collection capabilities. With Spring Labs, fraud is reduced through an increase in verified identities, and the protection of consumer data is prioritized.
9. SALT (Acquired by BnkToTheFuture)
- Location: Denver, Colorado
- Founders: Benjamin Yablon, Blake Cohen, Caleb Slade, Shawn Owen, Shawn Owen
- Founded In: 2016
- Funding: Series A, $64.4 Million
- Investors Include: David J. Namdar
Using the SALT platform, users can leverage their cryptocurrency for real cash loans starting at $5,000 from 1-36 months. Cryptocurrencies that are compatible with the platform include Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin, and the platform is available in a majority of the US states as well as countries across the globe.
10. Gemini
- Location: New York, New York
- Founders: Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss
- Founded In: 2014
- Funding: Undisclosed, $423.9 Million
- Investors Include: Draper Dragon, KRV Capital LP, K5 Global
Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange that utilizes blockchain technology for cryptocurrency and trading capabilities. Users can buy, sell, or exchange a variety of crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin.
11. BlockFi
- Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
- Founders: Flori Marquez, Zac Prince
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Undisclosed, $1.4 Billion
- Investors Include: FTX US, Alumni Ventures, Empede Capital
BlockFi is a crypto investment and blockchain wealth management platform that enables its customers to invest in cryptocurrency, digital assets, consumer lending products, and other products related to the crypto-asset ecosystem. Their primary mission is to provide their customers with transparency, an efficient platform they can transact on, and liquidity.
12. MeetKai
- Location: Marina Del Rey, California
- Founders: Adam Joosten, James Kaplan, Weili Dai
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Undisclosed
- Investors Include: Private
MeetKai is a startup developing a metaverse that’s rooted in reality in order to enrich its users’ lives. Their global vision is to become a new frontier of reality that’s inclusive and open to all, weaving in the virtual world with reality in productive and exciting ways. Users can learn, shop, create, and explore an enhanced reality, own various assets and objects in the metaverse, and have the ability to access this world anywhere through just a web browser.
13. CoinDCX
- Location: Mumbai, India
- Founders: Neeraj Khandelwal, Sumit Gupta
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series D, $247 Million
- Investors Include: Polychain, Kindred Ventures, Draper Dragon
CoinDCX is a cryptocurrency exchange aggregator startup specializing in crypto-enabled financial services. They are working to develop borderless financial services and help ensure uninterrupted capital flows that are simpler and more efficient for users and clients. For individuals using CoinDCX, they’ll find a fast, powerful wallet with excellent liquidity that allows them to experience reliable, fast, and effortless trading.
14. Fireblocks
- Location: New York, New York
- Founders: Idan Ofrat, Michael Shaulov, Pavel Berengoltz
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series E, $1 Billion
- Investors Include: Spark Capital, D1 Capital Partners
Fireblocks is a blockchain startup that provides security services for issuing, storing, and moving digital assets. By using their services, the complexity of working with digital assets is removed. There are currently over 1,300 different organizations using Fireblocks for trading, brokerage, exchange and lending, banking, and payments services.
15. Mysten Labs
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Founders: Adeniyi Abiodun, Evan Cheng, George Danezis, Konstantinos Chalkias, Sam Blackshear
- Founded In: 2021
- Funding: Series B, $336 Million
- Investors Include: Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, 9Yards Capital
Mysten Labs is a blockchain security startup that’s working to develop tools that make web3 more reliable and secure for everyone, with the ultimate goal of helping foster mass adoption of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital assets as a whole. With their unique product and service offerings, they are accelerating the adoption of web3 and building the foundation for a decentralized future.
16. Algorand
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- Founders: Silvio Micali
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Seed, $132 Million
- Investors Include: Borderless Capital, Tor Kenz Capital, ICONIUM
Algorand is one of the most powerful and sustainable blockchains currently available and one of the first to achieve security, scalability, and decentralization without having to compromise on being environmentally sustainable and green. Algorand is known as “the green blockchain” due to its energy efficiency and its partnerships with ClimateTrade that help further offset its carbon footprint. They are confidently pushing forward on mainstream blockchain adoption.
17. Yuga Labs
- Location: Miami, Florida
- Founders: Greg Solano, Wylie Aronow
- Founded In: 2021
- Funding: Seed, $450 Million
- Investors Include: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coinbase, Samsung NEXT
Yuga Labs is a blockchain technology startup that’s developing digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Their specialties include cryptocurrency, digital media, and blockchain technology, and the Yuga Labs team is focused on innovating in the space by having a “no border” approach, where people’s imaginations can shine without limitations. They are doing this by allowing fans and players to be creators and owners, creating and playing on one team in the game of web3.
18. Bitrefill
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
- Founders: Michael Mauritz Grunberger, Michel Gustavsson, Patric Stiller, Sergej Kotliar
- Founded In: 2014
- Funding: Seed, $9.4 Million
- Investors Include: Draper Associates, Tether, Fulgur Ventures
Bitrefill is a startup that offers lightning network services, mobile phone refills, and gift cards on a global scale for cryptocurrencies and receiving bitcoin. Their long-term goal is to provide the tools required for their users to be able to use bitcoin and various digital assets as digital currency and money daily without having to register for any additional services or log in to a web platform.
19. DeSo
- Location: Silicon Valley (Los Altos, California)
- Founders: Nader Al-Naji
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Seed, $200 Million
- Investors Include: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz
DeSo is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) backed by some of the biggest venture capital firms in the world. The blockchain startup is working to decentralize social media and scale apps with large storage needs to the masses.
20. Ava Labs
- Location: New York, New York
- Founders: Maofan Ted Yin
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Undisclosed, $640 Million
- Investors Include: Three Arrows Capital, Digital Asset Capital Management
Ava Labs is a decentralized finance (DeFi) startup operating a public network for financial institutions on the blockchain. Their decentralized payment system includes smart contracts, app development, and tokenization.
Final Thoughts
The blockchain industry is a constantly evolving sector ripe for technological innovation. Blockchain startups, from blockchain-based smart contracts to blockchain gaming, have been shaking up the startup ecosystem for several years. This fast-growing sector holds promise for the digital economy, solving pain points with the transparency and dependability of the blockchain.