To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip SupplierRead more

Solana Generates $1 Billion in Returns for Multiple Early Backers


An underwater hockey league connected the founders of the Solana blockchain to investors who bought the Solana token. The 4,300-fold increase in the price of the blockchain’s tokens explains why more VC funds want to hold these assets.

Photo of Anatoly Yakovenko by Solana. Art by Mike Sullivan
Photo of Anatoly Yakovenko by Solana. Art by Mike Sullivan
Dec. 13, 2021 2:42 PM PST

When Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko tried to raise money in 2018 to develop his idea for a faster blockchain for financial transactions, bitcoin prices were diving and investors were leery of blockchain startups. Then the former Qualcomm engineer convinced a friend he met playing underwater hockey to become an early investor. And that swim buddy went on to introduce Yakovenko, 41, to two other backers.

Later that year, the five co-founders of Solana Labs sold 79.25 million tokens for pennies each to help the startup develop the Solana blockchain. Some of the early token buyers, including Multicoin Capital, 500 Startups and a founder of Race Capital, have reaped huge gains from these first sales, in some cases generating $1 billion in returns.

The spike in tokens like Solana, which are worth about 4,300 times their initial sales price, explain why traditional venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital are shaking up their legal structures to hold more digital assets. This is how Solana’s first backers got in on one of the biggests scores in crypto investments.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
OpenAI's Greg Brockman (left) and Google's Demis Hassabis (right). Photos by Getty.
AI Agenda google ai
OpenAI Hustles to Beat Google to Launch ‘Multimodal’ LLM
As fall approaches, Google and OpenAI are locked in a good ol’ fashioned software race, aiming to launch the next generation of large-language models: multimodal.
Photo by Getty
Exclusive google ai
Google Nears Release of Gemini AI to Challenge OpenAI
Google has given a small group of companies access to an early version of its highly anticipated conversational artificial intelligence software, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Flexport founder, Ryan Petersen. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.
Exclusive e-commerce
Flexport’s Revenue Dropped 70% in First Half of 2023
Flexport’s revenue fell nearly 70% in the first half of the year to $700 million and the company burned through cash, people familiar with the company’s financials said.
From left, a Google TPU, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photos via Getty, Google and YouTube.
Exclusive google semiconductors
To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip Supplier
Google executives have extensively discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Org Charts enterprise Finance
The People in Power at Tech Private Equity Juggernaut Thoma Bravo
Orlando Bravo may be the face of Thoma Bravo, but he’s not the only one calling the shots. The hard-charging, helicopter-riding managing partner has become the most recognizable person at the software-focused private equity firm.
Gigafund co-founders Luke Nosek and Stephen Oskoui. Art by Clark Miller; Oskoui photo courtesy Gigafund.
The Big Read space entertainment
The Elon Musk Investors With Dreams of a New Social Order
In February 2021, a Mormon film producer named Jeffrey Harmon returned home to Provo, Utah, raving about an exclusive gathering he’d just attended in Austin, Tex.