5 Employees Raised 100 Million, Why Did Thru Win Over Capital?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
5 Employees Raised 100 Million, Why Did Thru Win Over Capital?
Thru will launch ThruVM, a new RISC-V-based virtual machine; its co-founder was a core member of Jump Crypto's Firedancer team.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Alex Liu, Foresight News
On the evening of April 29, Unto Labs announced it has completed a $14.4 million funding round. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Unto Labs and its flagship project Thru, covering the funding background, team introduction, technical features of the project, and how Thru differentiates from other blockchain initiatives.
Funding Details: $14.4 Million Raised, Valuation Reaches $140 Million
According to Fortune, Unto Labs secured $14.4 million in a funding round led by Framework Ventures and Electric Capital, achieving a company valuation of $140 million. The funds will be primarily allocated to two areas: expanding the team and accelerating the development and ecosystem growth of the Thru blockchain.
Currently, Unto Labs operates with only five employees, despite raising approximately 100 million RMB (about $14.4 million). In interviews, the team stated their goal is to grow to ten members by the end of the year.
As shown on their job listings, the company is currently hiring for three technical roles—Cryptographic Application Engineer, Tooling Engineer, and Systems Engineer—and three business roles including Communications Lead and Community Lead, all requiring full-time, on-site work in San Francisco, USA.
Team Strength: Experienced Founders
Unto Labs was co-founded by Will Yoo and Liam Heeger.
Liam Heeger:
Liam Heeger, a former core engineer at Jump Crypto, leads Unto Labs. He was a key member of the Firedancer client team and played a central role in developing Solana’s high-performance client.
In January this year, Heeger left his position to start a new venture and was subsequently sued by his former employer for allegedly launching a "competing business." After reaching a settlement, Heeger has now officially unveiled his new project.
Will Yoo:
Prior to founding Unto Labs, Will Yoo worked at Misfits Market, where he gained extensive experience in market innovation and operations. He oversees product and ecosystem strategy and collaborated with Heeger to shape Thru’s technical vision and roadmap.
Though small in size, Unto Labs' team consists of industry elites focused on foundational blockchain research and application development.
Thru: Exploring the Next-Generation Layer 1 Blockchain
Thru is the flagship project of Unto Labs, aiming to build a Layer 1 blockchain platform capable of supporting globally scaled applications. Designed to address current limitations in performance, scalability, and developer accessibility, Thru seeks to provide a more efficient and open infrastructure for Web3.
Thru's target market extends beyond the cryptocurrency space, focusing instead on developers and enterprises building decentralized applications (dApps). Supporting transactions, interactions with crypto applications, and financial tool development, Thru aims to become a universal blockchain platform meeting the demands of global-scale applications.
Technical Features: Integration of ThruVM and RISC-V
The core technology behind Thru is ThruVM—a virtual machine purpose-built for blockchain but distinguished by its foundation on the RISC-V architecture, offering significant advantages in performance and compatibility. Key technical aspects include:
-
RISC-V Architecture: RISC-V is an open instruction set architecture that enables software to interact directly with hardware. This allows ThruVM to efficiently utilize conventional hardware resources such as servers and laptops, rather than relying on virtual machines designed specifically for cryptocurrencies.
-
Performance Enhancement: By leveraging RISC-V, ThruVM achieves better mapping onto standard hardware, delivering higher computational efficiency and lower resource consumption. As reported by Fortune, this significantly improves Thru’s scalability, enabling it to meet the demands of high-concurrency environments.
-
Developer-Friendly: RISC-V is widely adopted in traditional computing, meaning developers outside the crypto space can easily adapt to Thru. This dramatically lowers the barrier to blockchain development and encourages broader participation from traditional software engineers in the Web3 ecosystem.
-
Tooling Support: With a rich ecosystem of development tools available, ThruVM can directly leverage existing RISC-V resources, minimizing learning curves for developers.
Thru’s technical design not only enhances blockchain performance but also offers developers a more open and flexible environment. This makes Thru suitable not just for crypto applications but also for diverse industries such as finance, supply chain, and gaming.
Differentiators: Breaking Through Traditional Blockchain Limitations
Thru stands out in several key ways:
Innovative Virtual Machine Design: Most existing blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum and Solana, rely on virtual machines tailored for cryptocurrency (e.g., EVM). While powerful, these often require developers to learn new, proprietary programming languages and tools—an obstacle for those outside the crypto domain. By adopting RISC-V, ThruVM avoids this issue, making Thru much more accessible to traditional developers.
Compatibility and Scalability: Thru is designed to match the scale of global applications, necessitating high concurrency and performance. The use of RISC-V enables Thru to make optimal use of existing hardware infrastructure, enhancing its scalability.
Driving Mainstream Adoption: Unto Labs explicitly states that Thru’s mission is to drive blockchain technology into the mainstream. By using a general-purpose computing architecture, Thru aims to break down the "barriers" of blockchain development, enabling greater participation from non-crypto enterprises and developers in building Web3.
Compared to other blockchain platforms, Thru’s strong focus on developer accessibility and mainstream adoption is particularly compelling. This approach not only expands the scope of blockchain applications but also injects fresh momentum into the Web3 ecosystem. Thru’s RISC-V strategy is seen as a significant step toward mainstream blockchain adoption.
Currently, Thru has not yet launched a testnet or any early access programs. Interested readers are encouraged to follow official channels for future updates.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
Foresight News
