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Orchid Labs has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round.
Key people at Orchid Labs.
Orchid Labs has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Orchid Labs operates a decentralized marketplace for internet services, providing an open-source protocol that enables secure, private online experiences. Its core offering is the Orchid VPN, a pay-as-you-go decentralized virtual private network service. The platform utilizes blockchain technology and crypto-powered nanopayments, leveraging its native OXT token for transactions within its trust-free ecosystem for bandwidth, storage, and AI services.
The company was founded in 2017 by a team including Steven Waterhouse, Jay Freeman, Brian Fox, Gustav Simonsson, and Stephen Bell. The founders shared a vision for a more open and censorship-resistant internet, recognizing the growing need for decentralized solutions to combat surveillance. Dr. Waterhouse, known for co-founding an early crypto hedge fund, brought significant expertise in the nascent blockchain space to the venture.
Orchid’s product caters to individuals seeking enhanced digital privacy and an alternative to traditional subscription-based internet services. The company's overarching mission is to foster a truly open and accessible internet where users maintain control over their data and online activities. It aims to empower a global user base by offering tools for secure networking that bypass centralized gatekeepers and promote digital freedom.
Key people at Orchid Labs.
Orchid Labs has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $5.0M Seed in October 2017.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2017 | $5M Seed | — | Fabric Ventures, Founder Collective, Obvious Ventures, Uncork Capital, YES VC, Michael Galpert, NIC Brisbourne, Ravi Mishra | Announced |
Orchid Labs is a San Francisco-based technology company founded in 2017 that develops the open-source Orchid protocol, a decentralized peer-to-peer network providing surveillance-free VPN access via a global marketplace for bandwidth.[1][2][4] It builds a layer 2 protocol on Ethereum enabling nanopayments for metered bandwidth, storage, and AI services without subscriptions, using its ERC-20 token OXT for trustless transactions via a stake-weighted algorithm.[2][3][4] The product serves users seeking privacy from government censorship, data harvesting by tech giants, and centralized VPN risks, solving core problems of internet surveillance and unreliable bandwidth pricing; it has raised over $43 million from top VCs like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, launched its token in December 2019, and maintains ~50 employees with active development in Go, C++, Rust, and Solidity.[1][4]
Orchid Labs emerged in 2017 amid rising concerns over data scandals like Cambridge Analytica, aiming to create a "surveillance-free layer atop the internet" for anonymized access, especially in censored regions.[1][2] The five founders bring deep expertise: Steven Waterhouse (CEO, ex-Pantera Capital partner with a Cambridge engineering PhD), Stephen Bell (ex-Trilogy Ventures MD focused on China), Gustav Simonsson (ex-Ethereum Foundation developer), Jay Freeman (software engineer known for Cydia installer), and Brian Fox (pioneer of Wells Fargo's online banking and early Free Software Foundation employee).[1][3] Early traction included a $4.5M seed in 2017 from Yes VC, Andreessen Horowitz, and others, followed by $36.1M via SAFT in 2018 (totaling $43M by 2019), fueling protocol development and the Orchid app VPN client.[1][4]
Orchid rides the DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) wave, tokenizing real-world resources like bandwidth to counter centralized internet control amid rising censorship, data breaches, and Web3 adoption.[2] Timing aligns with Ethereum's scaling (Layer 2s), post-2019 token launch enabling liquidity on major exchanges, and market forces like privacy regs (e.g., GDPR) and VPN demand in restricted regions.[1][4] It influences the ecosystem by pioneering trustless marketplaces for bandwidth/AI/storage, inspiring DePIN projects, reducing reliance on Big Tech data monopolies, and democratizing access via open-source code.[2][5]
Orchid Labs is poised to expand its DePIN ecosystem beyond VPNs into AI and storage marketplaces, leveraging OXT liquidity and wallet integrations for broader adoption.[2] Trends like Ethereum upgrades, rising DePIN TVL, and global privacy pushes will accelerate growth, potentially evolving Orchid into a core internet utility protocol. As surveillance threats intensify, its influence could reshape bandwidth economics, fulfilling the founding vision of an open, accessible internet for all—starting from that 2017 spark against data abuse.[1][2]
Orchid Labs has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Orchid Labs's investors include Fabric Ventures, Founder Collective, Obvious Ventures, Uncork Capital, Yes VC, Michael Galpert, Nic Brisbourne, Ravi Mishra.
