The lab behind
Ligate.
Ligate Labs is a small research and engineering team building the substrate for verifiable AI and cross-chain infrastructure. We publish specs before code, run audits in public, and ship to devnet before mainnet.
Verifiable AI and cross-chain infra belong on one substrate.
The name comes from Latin ligare, to bind, to connect. The thesis follows the word: AI provenance and Web3 infrastructure are two halves of a single missing primitive, and stitching them together from separate vendors is what has held both categories back.
Ligate Labs runs one sovereign rollup on Celestia that powers two native products. Themisra makes every AI interaction verifiable on-chain. Kleidon gives product teams the Web3 feature layer (subscriptions, game assets, tokens, marketplaces) through one SDK. Shared settlement, shared security, shared $LGT token.
We are pre-launch. Devnet targets Q2 2026. If that sounds honest for a fundraising stage, that is deliberate.
Six things we actually do. Not values deck theatre.
Specs before code
Every non-trivial primitive starts as an RFC we publish and iterate on in public. Code follows the spec, not the other way around. If you can't explain it, you can't ship it.
Audits in public
External firms audit, the full report goes up, findings stay visible until they're remediated. No NDA audit-reports investors never see, no post-hoc "our auditor was X" marketing.
Devnet before mainnet
Nothing touches real value until a public devnet has proven the surface with real operators. No surprise launches, no "just this once" exceptions.
Non-custodial by default
We don't hold user funds. Every Kleidon transaction runs through a smart contract. Users keep the keys. The money transmitter surface stays at zero.
One token, one surface
Themisra and Kleidon share $LGT. No product-specific tokens, no fragmented liquidity, no "which coin pays for gas today?" conversation. The economics are one thing you have to learn, not four.
Small team, high ownership
Senior engineers with equity and actual decision rights. No PM layer between someone writing Rust and someone shipping it. You talk to the founders daily — sometimes unfortunately.
Founding team.
A small, high-density founding crew covering protocol, product, and growth. Hiring begins post-pre-seed.
[Name]
Previously [prior company]. Focus: Sovereign SDK rollup modules, Proof of Prompt spec, Celestia integration.
[Name]
Previously [prior company]. Focus: Rust backend, operator dashboard, SDKs.
[Name]
Previously [prior company]. Focus: developer relations, design partners, early-stage GTM.
+2 protocol engineers (Rust / Sovereign SDK), +1 ZK engineer (SP1 / RISC Zero), +1 product designer, +1 DevRel.
Who's betting on us.
We're currently raising a bootstrap / pre-seed round. Backers and angels announced as rounds close.
- Bootstrap round: $100–200K (active)
- Pre-seed target: $500K–1M
- Seed target: $3–5M
- Series A target: $8–15M
Run a node.
Or write the spec with us.
Two ways in. If you're building product on Web3, start on the devnet. If you're thinking about protocol design for verifiable AI, we want to hear from you.