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Blockchain LabTHE VENTURE STUDIO

PRIVATE · OMNICHAIN

LayerZero Labs

LayerZero Labs builds the messaging protocol that lets an application treat many chains as one network. The company, not the ZRO token, is the employer.

You are deciding whether to take a Vancouver seat at a private company whose last priced round, in April 2023, marked it at $3 billion — and whose cash band on the posting does not even name a currency.

The company you would actually join

Blockchain Lab analysis

Public reporting and the employer’s own releases. Not a relationship with Blockchain Lab. Not a credit opinion.

Founded
2021, in Vancouver.
Base
Vancouver. Both seats on this desk list Vancouver, BC. Neither says remote.
Status
Private. ZRO, the token, is not equity in LayerZero Labs.
People
Bryan Pellegrino is the chief executive who spoke for the Series B. Ryan Zarick is named as co-founder and CTO in that coverage.

The product claim is specific. Chains do not share state. LayerZero's bet is that a message, with a proof, is enough for an application to stop choosing one chain. The protocol engineer is hired against that claim: contracts on EVM and non-EVM, validators, proof verification, formal methods. The backend engineer is hired against the operational claim that the system already moves tens of billions of dollars of daily transactional volume. That volume line is the employer's, on the backend posting. It is not an audit.

The corporate claim is a 2023 price. One hundred and twenty million dollars at a three-billion-dollar mark, after a one-billion-dollar Series A that included FTX Ventures. No later priced round is in this brief, because this pass did not confirm one. Later database entries get repeated on blogs. They are not here on purpose. Equity, if you are offered any, is private. The cash bands — $120,000 to $250,000 and $120,000 to $200,000 a year — do not say dollars of which country. Vancouver is in Canada. Ask.

Founders

Bryan Pellegrino

Co-founder and CEO

He is the executive on the Series B. He told The Block there was no lead investor among the 33 participants, and that the raise had been in motion through a difficult market. A candidate should know which founder actually runs the hiring loop. This brief does not pretend to.

Ryan Zarick

Co-founder and CTO

Quoted in the funding coverage on the omnichain product idea: one application using the speed of one chain and the security of another. The protocol seat reports into that technical bet. The backend seat may not.

What the company sells

LayerZero

A messaging protocol. The employer's own line is that builders should stop being constrained by one chain. The protocol engineer's posting names contracts, proof verification, and data availability.

What the raise said

The April 2023 release said the network had relayed over two million messages across 30+ chains in its first year. That is a 2023 operating claim, not a 2026 volume figure.

ZRO

A token. It is not the stock you are being offered. Ask what, if anything, a hire receives besides the cash band.

Capital

Last priced round

$3 billion

4 April 2023. More than three years stale.

Capital in that round

$120 million

Company release.

Prior round

About $1 billion

March 2022, as described in later coverage. Included FTX Ventures.

Revenue

Not disclosed

Private. Do not infer it from message counts.

  1. March 2022

    Series A

    $135 million at about $1 billion

    Crunchbase's report of the later round describes this raise as co-led by a16z, Sequoia, and FTX Ventures. FTX Ventures is a name on the cap table. Ask what, if anything, it still means for governance or reputation.

  2. 4 Apr 2023

    Series B

    $120 million at $3 billion

    The company's release and The Block agree: $120 million, $3 billion, 33 investors, no single lead. Named participants include a16z crypto, Sequoia, and Circle Ventures. The posting still lists a16z, Sequoia, PayPal, Binance Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Labs, Circle, and Delphi. That list is the employer's.

What should change your mind

  • A three-year-old valuation. Private marks do not update themselves when the market does.
  • FTX Ventures on the 2022 round. Not a finding of wrongdoing. A question you should be willing to ask.
  • Currency silence on a Canadian location. A band without a currency is not an offer.
  • The protocol req was last updated on the board on 20 October 2025. Almost a year later it was still listed. Confirm it is a team.

Ask them

  • Is the base CAD or USD, and is Vancouver on-site?
  • What equity or token, if any, sits beside the cash band, and at which mark?
  • Is the protocol seat still staffed against the October 2025 text?
  • What is live in production that a new hire would touch in week one?

Sources

If a figure is not in those sources, it is not in this brief on purpose.

Open roles on this desk