Blockchain and AI development platform EasyA has become the latest tech unicorn after reaching a $1.1 billion valuation, the company disclosed Wednesday.
Founded by brothers Phil and Dom Kwok and built without outside funding, EasyA has grown to more than 1 million users through an app that teaches coding with bite-sized daily challenges and enables users to develop and launch applications on their phones.
The company also runs hackathons where developers and non-coders collaborate on applications and startup ideas.
The founders said they chose to bootstrap EasyA to maintain control over its direction and long-term vision as they sought to build a leading blockchain and AI developer platform.
“We’ve always had a very clear vision of where we wanted to take EasyA,” Dom Kwok said in a statement. “Investors can provide capital, but they can also change the trajectory of a company and influence how it’s run (not always for the better). Most people raise because they don’t have a business model that can survive without external funding.”
EasyA’s valuation, which was determined by an independent third-party firm using audited financial statements, comes as the company moves toward a proposed public listing.
Over the next 12 to 24 months, the company plans to tokenize its shares and roll out a suite of AI agents they say will offer capabilities beyond those currently available from other companies.
Kwok noted that blockchain and AI are contributing equally to EasyA’s growth, despite current attention surrounding AI. He called blockchain a fundamental technology that could “rewire” the global financial system, adding that EasyA aims to help users discover and make use of emerging technologies.
Kwok stated that access to new technology alone is not enough, as many people still need guidance on how to apply it. EasyA aims to help users move from learning about emerging tools to building with them.
“New technology is getting built all the time, but very few people know how to leverage it to its full capabilities. EasyA’s role in helping distribute and show people what they can do with new technology is vital,” he said.
EasyA works with more than 350 academic institutions, while startups from its ecosystem have a combined valuation of nearly $50 billion and have attracted investment from a16z, Founders Fund and Y Combinator. Its partners include major technology and crypto companies such as Google, Coinbase, Ripple and Solana, among others.
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