SUMMARY: Blockchain data platform startup Shadow, known for its innovative “shadow forks” providing private execution environments mirroring real-time public blockchain states, has successfully raised $9 million in a seed round. The investment, led by Paradigm, includes notable participants such as Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, and Flashbots.
Shadow’s inaugural product, now available for public demo, enables users to enhance any contract by obtaining precise data through custom events and view functions. The platform utilizes “shadow forks” to create private execution environments synchronized with public blockchains. This approach addresses common challenges faced by onchain analysts and researchers, including insufficient events, contract optimization, and data ergonomics.
Co-founded by siblings Alvin and Emily Hsia, both with prior technical experience at Airbnb, Shadow aims to simplify working with blockchain data. The duo, who immersed themselves in blockchain development during the “DeFi summer” of 2020, emphasize the complexity of handling blockchain data, particularly the limited nature of smart contract event logs compared to web2.
Shadow’s CEO, Alvin Hsia, notes that their product is already live, with early adoption by DeFi protocols and web3 platforms. The $9 million funding will primarily be utilized to expand the team through the recruitment of additional engineers, as stated by Emily Hsia, who serves as the company’s CTO.
Paradigm’s Chief Technology Officer and Research Partner, Georgios Konstantopoulos, expressed excitement about the partnership, emphasizing the potential of Shadow Logs to enhance smart contract development cost-effectively, provide broader data access, and accelerate time to market for development teams. The collaboration originated during Paradigm’s Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) Program.
