Crunch Lab, a key player in the CrunchDAO ecosystem, has successfully secured $5 million in a strategic funding round. This round was co-led by Galaxy Ventures and Road Capital, with additional support from VanEck and Multicoin. This latest funding brings Crunch Lab’s total financing to $10 million, following an earlier seed round of $3.5 million in 2024.
The company has developed a decentralized network that has already demonstrated significant results, achieving double-digit accuracy improvements for prestigious institutions such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) Research Lab and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Instead of investing over $100 million to hire elite artificial intelligence talent, businesses can leverage CrunchDAO’s extensive network of more than 10,000 machine learning engineers and over 1,200 PhDs. They do this through structured modeling challenges known as Crunches, which allow organizations to access cutting-edge expertise without the hefty price tag.
The approach taken by Crunch Lab is not just theoretical; it is translating into tangible benefits in real-world applications. For instance, the ADIA Lab has reported a 17% improvement in cross-sectional asset pricing predictions. Meanwhile, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has achieved breakthrough results in cancer gene research through advanced computer vision techniques. Another notable initiative is the deployment of Mid+One, a crowdsourced mid-market pricing engine currently being utilized by a global investment bank in the foreign exchange OTC market.
Crunch Lab introduces a unique system that turns enterprise forecasting challenges into encrypted modeling competitions. Contributors to these challenges vie to create the most accurate models. The performance-based reward system ensures that rewards are allocated purely based on results, fostering a meritocratic environment that promotes continuous improvement.
With this recent funding, Crunch Lab aims to accelerate its platform development and broaden its reach into new industries, moving beyond its initial focus on finance and biomedical research. Additionally, earlier this year, CrunchDAO was selected for the Solana Incubator’s second cohort, an achievement that further underscores its innovative technical approach and promising market potential.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI today is constrained by hiring bottlenecks, siloed teams and an inability to scale effectively. We’ve flipped that model. Instead of competing for scarce talent, we give enterprises secure access to all of it through a decentralized network.”
“This isn’t theoretical hype—it’s proven. When thousands of practitioners compete, you uncover solutions even the best internal teams miss.”
Jean Herelle, CEO of Crunch Lab and CrunchDAO
“Crunch Lab is building an intelligence layer for global enterprises. Whether predicting asset prices, optimizing energy demand, or advancing healthcare diagnostics, CrunchDAO’s crowdsourced models unlock smarter, faster decision-making.”
Will Nuelle, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures
“We believe Crunch Lab represents one of the most compelling attempts to connect global quants with enterprises at scale. AI is a trillion-dollar market, and open protocols like Crunch are positioned to capture it.”
Thomas Bailey of Road Capital
