A16z invests in crypto wallet infrastructure startup Capsule

Capsule, a crypto wallet infrastructure startup, emerged from stealth with funding.

Andreessen Horowitz (via its accelerator Crypto Startup School) and Geometry co-led the funding, Capsule said Tuesday, without disclosing the raised amount. A16z’s CSS accelerator program typically invests $500,000 in participating startups in exchange for 7% equity, according to its website. Other backers include Spice Capital, Anchorage co-founders Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley, Celo co-founders Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski and Sommelier Finance co-founder Zaki Manian.

Capsule was founded last year by Nitya Subramanian, a former head of product at the Layer 1 blockchain Celo, to help developers create wallets with interoperable transacting. Rivals include Web3Auth and Coinbase’s recently announced Wallet as a Service product.

“Capsule’s closest competitors build embedded wallets that are limited to specific applications and onboarding,” Subramanian told The Block. “Capsule’s main difference is the ability to create wallets that interact with every app to maximize the benefits developers gain by building on crypto rails.”

Native crypto wallets

Wallet infrastructure startups allow companies to build native wallets into their applications without redirecting users to an external app or spending significant resources developing their own solution. Such startups often use multi-party computation (MPC) technology, which enables several groups to come together to complete a computation without revealing the private data each holds.

Subramanian said Capsule “takes this a step further with programmable MPC, which enables developers to be expressive about the kinds of inputs and outputs they’d like to see on-chain.”

Capsule joined the a16z CSS program last week and it will run until May. CSS is a 12-week accelerator course providing mentorship from industry experts. Participants also get access to a16z’s network for potential customers, advisers and investors to help them develop and scale their startups.

There are currently four people working for U.S.-based Capsule and Subramanian is looking to add a few engineers.

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