My name is Channi Greenwall, and I’m the founder and CEO of Olympix. While I’m thrilled to announce our recently closed $4.3M seed round, I’m writing this post to share the behind-the-scenes story of what we’ve built, where we’re going, and why Web3 security is the challenge I’m dedicated to tackling.
But first, I want to share my deepest gratitude for the industry-shaping investors, advisors, and operators who took part in our raise. The round was led by Boldstart Ventures, with participation from Robot Ventures and Shrug Capital, among other pioneering VCs.
I’m also humbled to have the support of angels like Guy Podjarny, Founder, Snyk, and Konstantin Richter, CEO/Cofounder, Blockdaemon, who’ve built preeminent developer security platforms and Web3 infrastructure solutions, and, in doing so, paved the way for Olympix. On a personal note, I’m extremely proud to have the backing of my mentors, Aleksandr Yampolskiy and Sam Kassoumeh, Cofounders, SecurityScorecard, who’ve been instrumental in Olympix’s success thanks to their complete belief in me from day one.
On behalf of the entire team, we’re incredibly grateful for your trust in us to carry out our bold mission to completely reimagine Web3 security tooling and bolster confidence across the whole ecosystem.
From Personal Obsession to Industry-Enabling Solution
Olympix’s mission was born out of my obsession with a single question — how do you scale Web3 security?
When I was just ten, my mom taught me how to pick a lock. While she thought she was teaching me a “valuable skill” or “fun trick,” she unleashed my obsession with security and a constant need to find holes in every system I encountered.
Since then, I completed my MS in security engineering at NYU and built a strong track record within the space by working on everything from mission-critical security infrastructure at JP Morgan Chase, to building a suite of security tools from the ground up under SecurityScorecard cofounder Sam Kassoumeh’s guidance.
And while I always knew I’d go on to build something myself, I didn’t uncover the need for Olympix until a late-night work session on my pandemic-era NFT side project.
It was 3 am, and I was exhausted and frustrated. I was building a product that would have direct access to thousands of dollars in users’ funds, but didn’t have any tools to help me to implement security best practices into its development.
It was precisely while feeling so powerless that I had my “aha” moment. Web3 had innovated, but security tools specific to Web3’s attack surface hadn’t. In that moment I knew precisely what the space was missing, and that I was the person to build it.
If you’re unfamiliar with the unique security challenges of Web3, here’s how I think about them:
- Web3 is immutable — In Web2, patching vulnerabilities is as simple as deploying a new version of the software. But in Web3, you can’t just redeploy at a snap of a finger. Changing source code is an entirely new animal.
- Web3 is exposed — In Web2, companies have the luxury of hiding vulnerabilities behind a firewall. In Web3, that story changes. Often built on public smart contracts, everyone now has visibility into the source code. If vulnerabilities exist, bad actors will find them.
- Money not data — In Web2, most hacks target consumer data. In the Web3 ecosystem, bad actors don’t have to go through the work of stealing and selling your data on the dark web to potentially reap financial rewards through cryptocurrencies. Instead, given that cryptocurrency is the primary use of Web3, bad actors go straight to the source to steal money, not data.
Keep in mind developers aren’t security experts (for no fault of their own,) which means that they’re relying on super expensive and infrequent security audits that can take months to complete. Plus, audits aren’t bulletproof. In fact, around 50% of exploited contracts over the past two years had been audited. Meanwhile, hacks are taking place every week.
It was clear to me that Web3 security protocols and tools weren’t innovating fast enough for the industry, and that for the ecosystem to exist long-term, I’d need to build something completely new.
Meet Olympix
In June of 2022, I started Olympix to completely change how developers think about and work with security tools. We wasted no time and quickly launched our first product, a static analyzer that scans and secures smart contracts in a fraction of a second thanks to quick fix suggestions powered by AI and a first-of-its-kind vulnerability database (VDB).
While I had the vision, Olympix wouldn’t be helping multiple teams embed security into their development process without our incredible team of 6 industry experts with extensive experience and storied careers across AI, compiler logic, Solidity, and cybersecurity, to name a few. I couldn’t be more bullish on the team we’ve put together.
Everything we build is anchored by one goal — helping developers ship faster, safer code. With that in mind, Olympix was created to meet developers where they’re at, integrating with multiple smart contract development environments (e.g., Foundry, Hardhat), source controls, and CI/CD pipelines. While it may seem like a small shift in mindset, Olympix’s proactive, security-first approach is completely reshaping Web3 protection.
Promising Early Results
Out of the many wins Olympix has had over the past year, I’m most proud of the results of our static analyzer private alpha.
With 30+ companies participating, including Blockdaemon, Rysk Finance, and Arrakis Finance, we’ve become a trusted part of the developer workflow not just to find and fix vulnerabilities, but help the developer become more sophisticated through real-time micro-teaching moments. Most notably, our private alpha has helped developers secure over $300M in assets since its launch.
“I’m impressed by Olympix’s seamless integration with my preferred IDE, and its ease of use. It significantly helped us in creating secure smart contracts and automating code reviews,” Jonas Pfannschmidt, Blockdaemon’s Principal Blockchain Engineer, shared.
Speaking to Olympix’s impact on the entire industry, Ari Rodriguez, Arrakis Finance’s CTO, added: “Tools like Olympix will help the whole ecosystem in our never-ending effort to ship bulletproof smart contract code.”
What’s Next
While our private alpha is a solid first step in our long-term goal to completely transform the Web3 developer workflow, our static analyzer is just the beginning for Olympix. In recent months, we launched a select private alpha for our anomaly detector, which merges our LLM with statistical analysis and our static analyzer to take vulnerability detection to the next level by uncovering holes that audits routinely miss. Early analysis shows that our anomaly detector has the power to have prevented Euler Finance’s $200 million exploit.
While our goals may seem lofty, and our vision expansive, our team lives to solve the large problems. Olympix Senior Software Engineer, Moacir Braga, said it best in our recent 1:1.
“Building Olympix with you is about freedom. In countries with underdeveloped financial institutions, like where I’m from, saving, investing, and safely holding assets is nearly impossible. Web3 and crypto promise a new possibility for people like me to build and protect our wealth, but that can’t become a reality until the security practices catch up. Olympix is going to bridge that gap from possibility to reality.”
I can speak for the entire Olympix team when I say we’re all on a mission to build the most innovative suite of security products that coexist with one another, unlocking efficiency, safety, and peace of mind for millions of developers, and in turn, the entire Web3 ecosystem.
We couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter and wouldn’t be here without all of your support. Thank you.
-Channi Greenwall, Founder and CEO
See More
- Fortune by Leo Schwartz
- CoinDesk by Brady Betz
- Boldstart Ventures by Eliot Durbin (Olympix Board Member)
