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Theta Labs has raised $1.0M across 1 funding round.
Key people at Theta Labs.
Theta Labs has raised $1.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Theta Labs develops decentralized GPU infrastructure, known as Theta EdgeCloud, designed for artificial intelligence, entertainment, and media workloads. This platform leverages a global network of distributed nodes to provide on-demand computing power, enabling tasks like AI training and video rendering at a competitive cost compared to traditional cloud services. Its technical approach integrates blockchain technology to manage and incentivize this distributed computational network, ensuring efficiency and accessibility.
The company was co-founded by Mitch Liu, who serves as CEO, and Jieyi Long, the CTO. Liu brings experience from previous ventures like Gameview Studios and Tapjoy, while Long co-founded MadSkill Game Studios. Their collaboration began around 2016, driven by an insight into the growing demand for scalable and cost-effective computing resources in AI and media, leading them to apply their combined expertise in blockchain and media technologies to decentralize GPU access.
Theta’s offerings are utilized across various sectors, including academic institutions conducting AI research, sports organizations, and AI development firms. The company envisions a future where access to powerful computing resources is democratized, fostering innovation and reducing barriers for developers and enterprises in AI and media by aggregating and optimizing the world's available computational power through its distributed network.
Key people at Theta Labs.
Theta Labs has raised $1.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $1.0M Seed in October 2017.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2017 | $1M Seed | — | Infinite Capital | Announced |
Theta Labs is a blockchain technology company that builds the Theta Network, a leading decentralized video delivery network powered by users sharing bandwidth and blockchain incentives.[1][2][5] It serves video platforms, content creators, and end-users by reducing CDN costs, enabling incremental revenues, and rewarding participants with tokens for relaying video on devices like PCs, mobiles, Smart TVs, and IoT.[1][2] The platform solves high costs and inefficiencies in centralized video streaming through peer-to-peer delivery, while expanding into AI, media, entertainment, edge computing, and decentralized GPUs, with partnerships like Samsung, Sony, Google Cloud, NBA, NHL, MLS, and esports organizations.[1][2][5] Growth includes over $113M in funding across rounds (e.g., $100M in 2021 led by Samsung NEXT), 12 patents in networking and video tech, a network of 140,000+ nodes, and innovations like Theta Metachain for sub-second finality.[1][2][3]
Founded in 2017 in Cupertino, California (with some references to San Jose), Theta Labs emerged from the need to decentralize video delivery amid rising streaming demands.[2][4] Key founders include Mitch Liu and Jieyi Long, though specific backgrounds are not detailed in sources; the idea stemmed from leveraging blockchain for peer-to-peer bandwidth sharing to cut costs for platforms like YouTube or Netflix equivalents.[1][2] Early traction came via seed funding ($1M in Nov 2017, additional seed in Jan 2018) and a $12M round in Dec 2017 led by DHVC, attracting Silicon Valley VCs like Sierra Ventures and media investors like Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and CAA.[1] Pivotal moments include 2019 Samsung NEXT-led round, 2021's $100M raise, Theta 3.0 release in 2020 with TFUEL staking, and Theta Metachain launch in late 2022 for enhanced throughput.[1][3]
Theta Labs rides the Web3 shift toward decentralized media, AI, and edge computing, decentralizing trillion-dollar video streaming (e.g., countering centralized giants like AWS CDN) amid surging demand for low-latency, cost-effective delivery.[1][2][5] Timing aligns with blockchain maturity post-2020 (e.g., DeFi boom) and AI explosion, where Theta's GPU cloud and partnerships like FedML for collaborative ML position it for generative AI and personalized content.[3][4][5] Market forces favoring it include crypto-economic incentives reducing 70-80% of streaming costs, regulatory pushes for data privacy (e.g., NFT DRM), and hybrid models blending Web2 reliability with Web3 rewards.[1][2] It influences the ecosystem by enabling dApps, empowering creators/influencers, and bridging enterprises to blockchain, accelerating Web3 adoption in entertainment and beyond.[2][3][5]
Theta Labs is poised to dominate decentralized cloud infrastructure as AI and streaming converge, with Metachain scalability rivaling next-gen chains like Aptos (160k TPS) and GPU resources fueling agentic AI for fans/sports.[2][3][5] Upcoming trends like Web3 media monetization, privacy-preserving AI (e.g., Lavita health marketplace), and esports growth will amplify its 140k-node network.[2][4][5] Influence may evolve toward hybrid enterprise-Web3 leader, potentially unlocking billions in creator economies if tokenomics and partnerships scale amid bullish crypto cycles—cementing its role as the backbone for blockchain-powered video and AI.
Theta Labs has raised $1.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Theta Labs's investors include Infinite Capital.
