Constellation Labs

What Constellation Labs does

Constellation Labs is a private blockchain infrastructure company founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco. It builds Hylochain, a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) protocol designed as an alternative to traditional blockchain architectures, employing peer-confirming transactions, reputation-based consensus (branded "Proof of Meme"), and partitioned consensus to claim horizontal scalability with target throughput of 4,000-4,800 transactions per second per 1,200 nodes. Smart contracts are deployed as off-chain microservices that can be chained into distributed applications. The native $DAG token, initially issued as ERC20, functions for node staking, ecosystem membership, and prospective network fees.

The company's commercial model is token-centric and community-led rather than enterprise SaaS. Revenue mechanics revolve around the $DAG token, node operation bounties, and Orion portal memberships where community members stake 250 DAG and developers stake 1,000 DAG for 6-month access to resources. Distribution is purely digital self-serve via the Orion community/developer portal and KuCoin exchange listing. Strategic finance came from $35.26M raised through January and June 2018 SAFT and private token sales at pre-money valuations of $27M and $32M respectively. The product was at pre-alpha testnet as of August 2018 with no mainnet launch disclosed in source materials.

Constellation Labs serves two primary segments: developers building dApps and microservices on the Constellation network, and community members/token holders participating in network governance and ecosystem contribution. Key strategic partnerships include Google Cloud (Kubernetes test cluster hosting), Connect Capital (financial backer), and a network of marketing/PR partners including Wachsman and Cryptodex. The company is led by CEO Brendan Playford and CTO Wyatt Meldman-Floch, with a multidisciplinary global team spread across Silicon Valley, London, Berlin, and Singapore.

Name

Constellation Labs

Legal name

Constellation Labs

Website

https://constellationlabs.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Constellation Labs builds Hylochain, a DAG-based distributed ledger protocol with microservices smart contracts and reputation-based consensus, targeting developers building decentralized applications and community token holders participating in its $DAG ecosystem.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Blockchain Infrastructure

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Smart Contract Execution Environments (EVM/WASM, runtimes, precompiles) (FSAPABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Smart Contract Frameworks & SDKs (developer kits, templates, standards) (FSAPABAB), Developer APIs & Node Access (RPC providers, node infrastructure APIs) (FSAPABAC)

Keywords

• Blockchain infrastructure
• DAG protocol
• Distributed ledger
• Smart contracts
• Cryptocurrency network

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. $DAG Token: Native cryptocurrency token of the Constellation network. Tokens are used for node staking, accessing the Orion community/developer portal, and as a membership mechanism for the ecosystem. The token will be an ERC20 token swapping to mainnet at launch.
2. Node Operations: Node operators can earn DAG tokens by hosting testnet nodes. Developers stake DAG on the developer tier of Orion portal and apply for Node Bounty to connect to the testnet. Earned through providing network resources and maintaining consensus participation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Constellation Labs builds Hylochain, a horizontally scalable DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) distributed ledger protocol that enables fee-less, high-throughput transactions through partitioned consensus and reputation-based incentives. The company offers smart contracts deployed as composable microservices, the $DAG native cryptocurrency token, the Orion community/developer portal, and a public testnet. The architecture is positioned as an alternative to traditional blockchain for developers building distributed applications.

Product overview

Constellation Labs is a blockchain infrastructure company offering a DAG-based distributed ledger protocol called Hylochain, which provides horizontal scalability, partitioned consensus for fee-less transactions, and a microservices architecture for smart contracts. The $DAG token serves as the native cryptocurrency for network transactions and reputation-based staking. Orion is the community and developer portal that provides access to the ecosystem, while the Testnet allows developers to participate in the network and earn bounties. The platform implements a Proof of Meme consensus mechanism that rewards benevolent behavior across the network.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Orion: Community and developer portal for Constellation ecosystem. Members can earn DAG tokens through gamified activities, documentation contributions, and development projects.

Products and services

• Hylochain A DAG-based distributed ledger protocol offering horizontal scalability, partitioned consensus for high transaction throughput, and fee-less transactions via reputation-based delegate selection. Designed as the foundational infrastructure for decentralized applications.
• $DAG Token Native cryptocurrency token of the Constellation network used for transactions, node staking, membership access to the Orion ecosystem, and as a unit of value for reputation-based incentives. Distributed through SAFT and private token sales and listed on KuCoin exchange.
• Orion Community & Developer Portal Community and developer portal providing token-membership access to the Constellation ecosystem. Includes gamified token bounties for translations, documentation, debugging, and developing ACI's (Autonomous Consumer Interfaces) and microservices, plus priority developer tools and team access.
• Constellation Testnet Pre-alpha open source test network enabling developers to run local nodes, send and validate transactions, and produce bundles to earn reputation. Includes visualization tools and node UI ('Cockpit') and is deployed as a Kubernetes cluster on Google Cloud Platform.
• Microservices Smart Contracts Smart contracts deployed as off-chain concurrent microservices that can be chained and composed into distributed applications, distinct from traditional on-chain monolithic smart contract execution. Available to developers building on the Constellation network.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4,000-4,800 transactions per second for every 1,200 nodes, scaling to approximately 4.5 million transactions per second for 1 million users

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• BatshitminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• CryptodexminorOthersBlockchain advisor Jake Vartanian is founder of Cryptodex. Listed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• TLDRminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• ChainrockminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• WachsmanminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• Crypto BazarminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• Game Theory GroupminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• The BureauminorOthersListed as a partner in Constellation Labs' partner ecosystem.
• Google CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationKubernetes test cluster deployed on Google Cloud Platform for scaling experiments. Engineers connect remotely to Constellation's testnet cluster through authentication.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IOTA: IOTA is a DAG-based (Tangle) distributed ledger designed for feeless microtransactions and IoT data integrity. Like Constellation's Hylochain, it uses a DAG instead of block-based chains and targets high-throughput, fee-less transactions for machine-to-machine and IoT use cases.
• Hedera Hashgraph: Hedera operates a hashgraph (a DAG variant) consensus with high throughput, asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance, and fee-based transactions. It is one of the most prominent DAG-based public ledgers and competes with Constellation for enterprise-grade, high-throughput dApp workloads.
• Nano: Nano is a DAG/block-lattice distributed ledger providing feeless, near-instant peer-to-peer transactions using a lightweight consensus model. It directly parallels Constellation's value proposition of fee-less, mobile-friendly, high-speed transactions.
• Avalanche: Avalanche is a high-throughput L1 platform whose Snow family of consensus protocols is rooted in DAG-based metastable sampling. Like Constellation, it pursues horizontal scaling and fast finality, but with substantially more capital, ecosystem partners, and production deployments.
• Fantom: Fantom is a DAG-based smart contract platform using Lachesis aBFT consensus to deliver high throughput and low finality. It is directly comparable to Constellation as an alternative smart contract platform positioning around speed, low fees, and EVM compatibility.

Broad incumbents

• Solana: Solana is a high-throughput L1 blockchain targeting tens of thousands of TPS for consumer and DeFi applications. While block-based rather than DAG, it competes with Constellation on the same enterprise and developer mindshare axis: speed, throughput, and low fees.
• Ethereum: Ethereum is the incumbent smart contract platform whose scalability, gas fee, and developer-language limitations Constellation explicitly positions against. As the dominant L1 for dApps and ERC20-style token issuance (relevant to $DAG's planned ERC20-to-mainnet swap), Ethereum is the anchor competitor for developer attention.
• Cardano: Cardano is a research-driven L1 blockchain using Ouroboros proof-of-stake consensus with formal-verification emphasis. It competes with Constellation on the formal-verification and academic-rigor axis, particularly given Dr Ratul Saha's formal-verification work on Proof of Meme.

Emerging players

• Polkadot: Polkadot is a scalable, interoperable multi-chain framework using a relay-chain/parachain architecture. While architecturally distinct, it overlaps with Constellation's microservices-based smart contract thesis and competes for developers building cross-chain or modular applications.
• Cosmos: Cosmos provides app-chain infrastructure via Tendermint BFT consensus and IBC interoperability. It overlaps with Constellation's microservice-based, horizontally scalable architecture thesis and is a credible alternative for developers building application-specific chains.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Conste11ation
• GitHubgithub.com/Constellation-Labs
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UChMBV4al3p_iO4bnfzcIzVQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/Conste11ation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/constellation-labs
• Instagraminstagram.com/constellation_labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Constellation Labs