After two years of building discreetly, the a16z crypto-backed startup smlXL is emerging from stealth with the mission of making blockchains more transparent, useful, and accessible.
The company, founded by Dor Levi, who previously oversaw scooter and bike-share programs at Lyft, raised $13.4 million in a round led by a16z, with participation from Silicon Valley VC firm Greylock and angel investors.
So far, none of that money has gone to marketing, Levi told Fortune. The company, whose name can be pronounced "s-m-l-x-l" or "small XL," has instead allocated resources to building out a 16-person team and developing products. This includes evm.codes, the go-to place for people seeking EVM opcodes or wanting to learn about the Ethereum Virtual Machine; and evm.storage, which allows users to deeply scrutinize the storage of any contract on the Ethereum or Avalanche blockchains.
Between those two products, the company has already garnered about 15,000 monthly active users, mostly through word of mouth. Although evm.codes and evm.storage are currently free, Levi said a pro version of evm.storage that includes gated components or unlimited transaction simulations could be offered down the line.
Levi said the company is especially keen on enhancing evm.storage, which he lauds as the Google of blockchain explorers, which can help people see and interpret blockchain transactions. For instance, an evm.storage user could examine the storage layer of circle’s USDC stablecoin to find the balances of every blockchain address that interacts with USDC and any changes that are made, Levi said. The point is to give users a better understanding of what’s happening on the blockchain through a single product.
“We're basically able to track every contract in the blockchain, and—kind of in real time—have the unfolded or unpacked view of everything it has in storage,” Levi said.
Evm.storage, which Levi said is directed at developers and more experienced blockchain users, is also expanding its coverage to unverified Solidity contracts, which will expand the data that can be analyzed by users of the product. Soon, the product will also add the ability to trace and simulate transactions across several blockchains, offering deeper analysis.
“We almost want to be like an MRI to what's happening,” Levi said. "I'm just really excited to, you know, start seeing the power of it."
