Layer
Layer is a West Hollywood-based platform curating living digital art while building WebAssembly developer tools that extend Ethereum beyond current smart contract limitations, targeting blockchain developers building full-stack decentralized applications.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersWest Hollywood, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Layer does
Layer (layer.com) operates a platform for living digital art curation while developing WebAssembly-based developer tools designed to extend Ethereum's capabilities beyond the functional constraints of current smart contract frameworks. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in West Hollywood with 11 to 50 employees, the company targets blockchain developers building full-stack decentralized applications, framing its value proposition around overcoming Ethereum's smart contract limitations through a WebAssembly runtime approach. The firm employs a product-led growth motion aimed at developer adoption, with a horizontal segmentation strategy centered on the blockchain developer persona.
The company's business model and pricing structure are not publicly disclosed, and no named customers, contracts, or revenue figures appear in available sources. The most recent capital event is an October 2024 $6M seed round led by 1kx, with participation from multiple venture groups and angel investors. Historical funding data between 2013 and 2017 totals roughly $37M across multiple rounds led by Greycroft, Homebrew, AME Cloud Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures, alongside a February 2017 acquisition of Cola — evidence of a prior messaging or communications product line that has since been replaced by the current Web3 and digital art positioning.
Layer firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Layer
- Website
- https://layer.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Layer is a West Hollywood-based platform curating living digital art while building WebAssembly developer tools that extend Ethereum beyond current smart contract limitations, targeting blockchain developers building full-stack decentralized applications.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Layer industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Blockchain Developer Tools
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Smart Contract Developer Platforms & Tooling (SDKs, APIs, frameworks, indexing) (FSAPAAAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI) (FSAPABAG), Developer Experience Platforms for Enterprise (IDEs, CI/CD, Dev Portals) (HDAEAKAI)
Keywords
Where Layer is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- West Hollywood
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Layer business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Go-to-market motion1 record
Layer product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Layer develops WebAssembly-based developer tools designed to extend Ethereum's capabilities beyond current smart contract limitations, enabling builders to construct full-stack decentralized applications. The company also operates a platform presenting living digital art curated for life, combining digital art curation with blockchain infrastructure development.
Product overview
Layer offers a unified platform centered on living digital art, curated for life. The company is developing developer tools that extend Ethereum's capabilities by supporting full-stack decentralized applications using Web Assembly, surpassing current smart contract limitations. The core offering combines digital art curation with blockchain infrastructure development.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Layer Platform A platform for living digital art curated for life, paired with developer tools that extend Ethereum's capabilities by supporting full-stack decentralized applications using WebAssembly, targeting Ethereum developers and digital art collectors.
Companies that use Layer
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Layer technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Layer partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Layer competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Polygon Labs: Polygon builds Ethereum scaling and developer infrastructure (Polygon PoS, Polygon CDK, zkEVM). It is comparable to Layer because both target the same core problem of extending Ethereum's capabilities for developers, with Polygon addressing it via L2/sidechain infrastructure rather than a WebAssembly developer tool layer.
- Alchemy: Alchemy is a leading Web3 developer platform providing node infrastructure, APIs, and tooling for Ethereum and multi-chain builders. It is comparable to Layer as a developer-facing infrastructure layer for Ethereum, although Alchemy sits at the node/API tier while Layer sits at the language/execution tier.
- Arbitrum (Offchain Labs): Arbitrum is a leading Ethereum L2 optimistic rollup with its own developer tooling (Stylus, which adds WASM/Rust support). It is comparable to Layer because both aim to expand what developers can build on Ethereum, with Arbitrum's Stylus feature being the most direct WASM-on-Ethereum analogue to Layer's thesis.
- Optimism: Optimism is a major Ethereum L2 (OP Stack) with the OP Labs developer ecosystem. It is comparable to Layer as a competing approach to extending Ethereum's capabilities for full-stack dApp developers, though Optimism focuses on the rollup stack rather than WebAssembly-based execution extensions.
Emerging players
- Starknet (StarkWare): Starknet is a validity-proven (zkSTARK) L2 for Ethereum with a Cairo-based developer environment. It is comparable to Layer because both pursue non-EVM WASM-adjacent execution models to extend Ethereum's developer surface area beyond Solidity.
- zkSync (Matter Labs): zkSync is a zk-rollup L2 with its own toolchain and an LLVM-based compiler path that supports Rust and other WASM-compilable languages. It is comparable to Layer as an alternative pathway for extending Ethereum's developer capability beyond the EVM's smart contract model.
Direct peers
- Foundry (Paradigm): Foundry is a fast-growing Rust-based Ethereum smart contract development toolkit. It is a direct peer of Layer as competing developer tooling for Ethereum dApp builders, with Foundry emphasizing Solidity test/deploy speed and Layer emphasizing full-stack WASM-based extension.
- Hardhat (Nomic Foundation): Hardhat is the dominant Ethereum smart contract development framework (compile, test, deploy, debug). It is a direct peer of Layer because both sell developer tooling to Ethereum builders, although Hardhat focuses on Solidity smart contracts while Layer is positioned to extend beyond them.
- Tenderly: Tenderly provides Ethereum developer tooling for debugging, simulation, monitoring, and testing of smart contracts. It is a direct peer of Layer as a developer-experience platform targeting Ethereum builders, with overlapping value in simulation and testing.
Others
- 1kx (as ecosystem peer): 1kx is included as an adjacent ecosystem reference rather than a competitor: it is Layer's lead investor and a prolific Web3 fund, useful as a proxy for the broader portfolio of Ethereum infrastructure projects (e.g., Gnosis, WalletConnect, Polkadot ecosystem) that Layer would be benchmarked against.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Layer social profiles
Digital presenceLayer financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Layer leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Layer funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds8 records
Investors17 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Layer M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Layer
What does Layer do?
Layer develops WebAssembly-based developer tools designed to extend Ethereum's capabilities beyond current smart contract limitations, enabling builders to construct full-stack decentralized applications. The company also operates a platform presenting living digital art curated for life, combining digital art curation with blockchain infrastructure development.
Is Layer a public or private company?
Layer is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Layer founded?
Layer was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Layer based?
Layer is headquartered in West Hollywood, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Layer's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Polygon Labs, Alchemy, Arbitrum (Offchain Labs) and Optimism. Emerging players are Starknet (StarkWare) and zkSync (Matter Labs). Direct peers are Foundry (Paradigm), Hardhat (Nomic Foundation) and Tenderly. 1kx (as ecosystem peer) is listed as an others.
Does Layer have an API?
No public API is recorded for Layer.
What industry is Layer in?
Layer's product category is Blockchain Developer Tools. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAPAAAH, Smart Contract Developer Platforms & Tooling (SDKs, APIs, frameworks, indexing), with a secondary code of FSAPABAG, Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7371.