Thru will launch a new virtual machine based on RISC-V, and the co-founder was a core member of the Jump Crypto Firedancer team.
Written by: Alex Liu, Foresight News
On the evening of April 29, Unto Labs announced that it has completed a $14.4 million financing round. This article will comprehensively analyze Unto Labs and its flagship project Thru from the perspectives of financing background, team introduction, project technical features, and how Thru differs from other blockchain projects.
Financing Details: $14.4 Million Raised, Valuation Reaches $140 Million
According to Fortune, Unto Labs has completed a $14.4 million financing round led by Framework Ventures and Electric Capital, with the company's valuation reaching $140 million. The funds will primarily be used for two purposes: expanding the team size and accelerating the research and development and ecosystem construction of the Thru blockchain.
Currently, the Unto Labs team consists of only 5 employees and has completed approximately 100 million RMB in financing. They stated in an interview that they plan to expand the team size to 10 by the end of the year.
According to their recruitment page, there are currently three technical positions open: crypto application engineer, tooling engineer, and systems engineer, as well as three business positions including communication 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:
Unto Labs is led by former core engineer of Jump Crypto, Liam Heeger, who was a core member of the Firedancer client team and led the development of the high-performance client for Solana.
In January of this year, Heeger left to start his own venture and was subsequently sued by his former employer, who accused him of creating a "competing business." Now, after reaching a settlement, Heeger has announced his new project.
Will Yoo:
Will Yoo previously worked at Misfits Market, accumulating rich experience in market innovation and operations. He is responsible for product and ecosystem strategy and has worked with Heeger to create the technical blueprint and roadmap for Thru.
Although the Unto Labs team is small, all members are industry elites focused on the underlying research and application of blockchain technology.
Thru: Exploring the Next Generation Layer 1 Blockchain
Thru is the flagship project of Unto Labs, aiming to build a Layer 1 blockchain platform that can compete with globally scaled applications. The original design intention of Thru is to address the shortcomings of existing blockchain technology in terms of performance, scalability, and developer-friendliness, providing a more efficient and open underlying architecture for Web3.
The target market for Thru is not limited to the cryptocurrency field but is aimed at all developers and enterprises that need to build decentralized applications (dApps). Thru supports transactions, interactions with crypto applications, and the development of financial tools, aiming to become a universal blockchain platform that meets the needs of globally scaled applications.
Technical Features: The Combination of ThruVM and RISC-V
The technical core of Thru is ThruVM, a virtual machine designed specifically for blockchain, but its characteristics based on the RISC-V architecture give it significant advantages in performance and compatibility. Here are the main technical features of Thru:
RISC-V Architecture: RISC-V is an open instruction set architecture that allows software to interact directly with hardware. This enables ThruVM to utilize traditional hardware resources (such as servers and laptops) more efficiently, rather than relying on virtual machines designed specifically for cryptocurrency.
Performance Improvement: Through RISC-V, ThruVM can better map to conventional hardware, providing higher computational efficiency and lower resource consumption. According to Fortune, this will significantly enhance Thru's scalability to meet the demands of high-concurrency scenarios.
Developer-Friendly: RISC-V is widely used in traditional computing fields, meaning that developers from non-cryptocurrency areas can easily get started with Thru. This greatly lowers the barrier to blockchain development and helps attract more traditional software developers to join the Web3 ecosystem.
Tool Support: RISC-V has a rich set of development tools and ecosystem support, allowing ThruVM to directly utilize these resources, reducing the learning costs for developers.
The technical design of Thru not only enhances the performance of the blockchain but also provides developers with a more open and flexible development environment. This makes Thru suitable not only for cryptocurrency applications but also capable of supporting a wider range of industry needs, such as finance, supply chain, gaming, and more.
Uniqueness: Breaking Through the Limitations of Traditional Blockchains
Thru's uniqueness is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Innovation in Virtual Machine Design: Existing blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum and Solana, mostly use virtual machines designed specifically for cryptocurrency (like EVM). While these virtual machines are powerful, they often require developers to learn new, proprietary programming languages and tools, which is a significant barrier for developers from non-cryptocurrency fields. ThruVM avoids this issue by adopting RISC-V, making Thru more accessible to traditional developers.
Compatibility and Scalability: Thru's design goal is to compete with globally scaled applications, which means it needs to handle high concurrency and high-performance demands. Through RISC-V, Thru can better utilize existing hardware resources to achieve higher scalability.
Mainstream Promotion: Unto Labs has clearly stated that Thru's goal is to promote the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology. By using a universal computing architecture, Thru hopes to break down the "barriers" of blockchain development, allowing more enterprises and developers from non-cryptocurrency fields to participate in the construction of Web3.
Compared to other blockchain platforms, Thru's emphasis on developer-friendliness and mainstream promotion is eye-catching. This not only helps expand the application scope of blockchain technology but also injects new vitality into the Web3 ecosystem. Thru's RISC-V strategy is considered an important step towards the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.
Currently, Thru has not launched a testnet or other early participation channels, and interested readers can continue to follow subsequent official information.
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