Ethereum scaling infrastructure startup Spire Labs raises $7 million in seed funding

Spire Labs, an Ethereum scaling infrastructure developer, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round.

Maven 11 Capital and Anagram co-led the round, with participation from the a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, Digital Currency Group, Bankless Ventures, Volt Capital, Finality Capital and others, Spire Labs said Thursday. Angel investors, including Celestia Labs' Nick White and Jacob Arluck, AltLayer's Amrit Kumar, and Anthony Sassano, also joined the round.

Spire Labs began raising funds for the seed round in June and completed the process earlier this month, co-founder Kaito Yanai told The Block. The funding was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE), Yanai said, declining to comment on Spire's valuation.

What is Spire Labs?

Spire is a crypto startup focused on Ethereum scaling, developing "Based Stack," a rollup framework designed to enable builders to deploy application-specific chains, or appchains.

There are already several popular Ethereum scaling infrastructure platforms, such as Optimism's OP Stack, Polygon Chain Development Kit and zkSync's ZK Chains. However, Spire's Based Stack emphasizes "based sequencing" while maintaining the network effects of the Ethereum Layer 1 blockchain, Yanai said.

"The Based Stack allows app developers to use Based Sequencing, meaning they can leverage Ethereum Layer 1 as the sequencing layer (Those rollups are called 'based rollups') instead of a centralized sequencer," Yanai said. "This provides superpowers like L1 composability and the credible neutrality of Ethereum, including liveness, censorship resistance and decentralization. Additionally, the Based Stack enables MEV [Maximal Extractable Value] internalization, allowing appchains to capture the MEV they generate, which traditionally leaks to sequencers."

Yanai mentioned that Spire has spoken with many DeFi applications on Ethereum and identified a common concern: developers want to create an appchain without losing their connection to Ethereum. He noted that Ethereum currently faces various forms of fragmentation, including liquidity and user base, and Spire aims to unify these elements into a seamless experience.

"Based rollups created with the Based Stack are appchains to customize the rollup contract in ways that are impossible on general-purpose rollups," Yanai claimed.

He provided an example, explaining that if an NFT marketplace wants to let users trade CryptoPunks NFTs — which only exist on Ethereum Layer 1 — it can utilize an appchain. The marketplace could pull the current state of the CryptoPunks contract from Ethereum, ensuring that every transaction on the appchain reflects the latest information. This approach shows how appchains can connect with Ethereum in new ways, offering unique benefits compared to traditional rollups, Yanai said.

Based Stack launch schedule

Spire Labs is currently working on the first testnet of Based Stack and aims to launch it by the end of this year, Yanai said, adding that the mainnet is targeted for launch in the first quarter of 2025.

When asked whether Spire would also launch its own token alongside the mainnet, Yanai said that while a token won't launch at mainnet, Spire "might launch a token if the time is right and we have clear utility for said token."

Currently, there are 11 people working for San Francisco-headquartered Spire Labs, and Yanai is looking to hire a few more developers, including a head of engineering.

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