Original Title: Meet the EASY Residency Season 2 Cohort
Original Source: YZi labs
Original Translation: Ethan, Odaily Planet Daily
On December 3, YZi Labs officially announced the complete list of selected teams for EASY Residency Season 2, with 17 shortlisted teams set to make their official debut at the Demo Day event during Binance Blockchain Week.
It is noteworthy that this season's selected projects continue the hard-tech genes of AI and Biotech from the first season while adding a more diverse narrative weight. The list includes Web3 native projects such as Bitcoin liquidity protocols and Blast ecosystem prediction markets, as well as cutting-edge hard technologies like spatial intelligence and gene therapy.
42.space: Trade Real-World Events Like Memecoins
Founding Team:
Leo Zhang (Founder): Former research director at a New York crypto fund, previously worked at KKR and MS (Morgan Stanley) in the equity derivatives department, holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Stanford University.
Steve Kim (CTO): Founding engineer at several startups (later acquired by Walmart/Discord), holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Aleksi Ollikainen-Read (Strategic/Operations/Legal Advisor): Former head of strategy and operations at Consensys SMG, taught law at Oxford University, researcher at Harvard University/Max Planck Institute, qualified lawyer in England and Wales (E&W) since 2018.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
42.space is an asset issuance protocol that significantly broadens the boundaries of prediction markets. By utilizing bonding curves to construct event outcomes as a token launch platform, 42.space allows users to create and trade assets linked to real-world events. Trading like liquidity tokens; settling like prediction markets, this innovative mechanism is driven by a strong team of Stanford and Harvard alumni as well as Wall Street veterans, merging top engineering technology with advanced financial strategies. Through collaboration with BNB Chain, 42.space is introducing this novel, event-based asset to a vast user base, further expanding the landscape of DeFi.
4D Labs: Data Collection, Model Development, and Application for Spatial Intelligence Large Models
Founding Team:
Bruce Bai (CEO): PhD from Zhejiang University; serial entrepreneur; previously founded two computer vision startups.
Ian Y. Xu (Co-founder): Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan; PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong; previously worked at Meta Reality Labs and SenseTime.
Xin Zhou (Co-founder): Chief AI Architect at Baidu USA; PhD from the University of Michigan; over 10 years of experience leading AI/generative AI systems.
Haoming (Co-founder): Postdoctoral researcher at Peking University; PhD from Zhejiang University; previously worked at Baidu; published over 10 top AI papers; serial entrepreneur (founded Deep Pink Elephant, xPerception, the latter acquired by Baidu).
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
4D Labs is at the intersection of AI, 3D technology, and Web3, dedicated to solving a fundamental bottleneck of the spatial computing era: how to obtain scalable, verifiable, and high-quality 3D data. With its spatial large model and 3D data generation and acquisition processes, combined with a tokenized data rights framework, 4D Labs has become an early pioneer in the 3D data infrastructure field. As digital twins and embodied AI accelerate, a 3D data network based on ownership will become crucial, making 4D Labs a timely and strategically significant investment in the next computing paradigm's foundational layer.
AllScale: A Lightweight Self-Custody New Bank for Cross-Border Business Operations
Founding Team:
Shawn Pang (CEO) – Former payment product manager at TikTok & Capital One; serial entrepreneur; previously responsible for listing business at KuCoin. Leo Wang (COO) – Former employee at Amazon, IBM, Scotiabank; fintech and infrastructure builder.
Alisha Li (CMO) – Former partner at Honeycomb Capital, former sales director at HP, Dell, Sun.
Khalil Lin (Compliance Officer) – Licensed attorney in New York; previously worked at Kraken, The Block.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
AllScale is building a self-custody stablecoin bank that simplifies payment, payroll, and invoicing processes for businesses in a compliant and intuitive manner. Our investment stems from early signs of strong product-market fit, supported by natural growth momentum and robust retention metrics. AllScale combines the speed and transparency of stablecoins with a user experience that perfectly aligns with modern business operations and compliance needs, positioning itself favorably to capture market share.
Advent: AI-Driven Precision Gene Therapy Platform
Founding Team:
Bonnie Zhu: Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST); PhD from Stanford University.
Kai Liu: Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; globally recognized leader in neuroscience.
Yuan Yao: PhD in Bioengineering from Stanford University; currently the Sales and Marketing Director for the BD Medical Infusion and Dialysis Division in the U.S.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Advent is at the forefront of the delivery of cell and gene therapies, utilizing proprietary viral protein datasets and a specially built AI-driven platform to reduce the discovery time of adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids from months to weeks. Its internal high-throughput data, scalable differentiated capsid intellectual property pipeline, and synthetic capsids that outperform natural serotypes create a formidable technological moat in this rapidly expanding market. Advent has a strong team and clear technological differentiation advantages, making it a timely investment entry point that aligns with major precedents in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) market.
AgriDynamics: Fruit-Picking Robots to Address Farm Labor Crisis
Founding Team:
Dr. Zhaojian Li (CTO): Associate Professor at Michigan State University, responsible for the commercialization of patented modular apple-picking robots developed with funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Kyle Lammers (CEO): Six years of experience in apple-picking robot research, recipient of the Michigan Agricultural Bioinnovation Award, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Best Student Presentation Award, and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Intelligent Transportation Systems Community Best Paper Award.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
The company addresses one of the most severe cost and labor challenges in American specialty agriculture—apple picking—through a patented, field-validated robotic platform recognized by major grower associations. Labor costs account for about 70% of production costs in apple picking. Its modular, commercializable system and defensive intellectual property provide a clear first-mover advantage in this multi-billion dollar sector. With a scalable roadmap for expansion into other high-value crops and recurring service or software revenue, the company is poised to become a core automation infrastructure in specialty agriculture.
Bento.fun: The Social Layer of Prediction Markets
Founding Team:
Abhitej Singh (CEO): Former Growth Lead at Persistence/pSTAKE; co-founder of Cosmos India; founder of Filament (traded $100 million, raised $1.15 million).
Pratyaksh Inani (CPO): Quantitative trader since age 13; former finance/product lead at Persistence; co-founder of Filament.
Rajeeb Kumar (Engineer): Former employee at Nethermind, IIT graduate with 6 years of DeFi/contract engineering experience, 10-time hackathon champion.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Bento can transform daily fan debates on Telegram, Twitter, and WhatsApp into quick and simple micro-duels with amounts ranging from $1 to $10, opening up space for a large casual fan base and showing considerable trading volume potential. The founders possess deep domain expertise, aiming to target high-traffic global fan circles such as cricket and Formula 1 racing. As a native prediction market component on the BNB Chain, Bento aligns directly with our ecosystem strategy and promotes broader on-chain participation through low-friction social betting.
Frontrun: A Professional Trader Wallet Designed for Fast Discovery, Due Diligence, and Execution
Founding Team:
Chris (Founder & CEO): Former employee at Robinhood Crypto (responsible for building deposit and withdrawal features); founding engineer at Sui (led an 8-person team to develop the browser, SDK, RPC, and a wallet with over 1 million users).
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Frontrun is a trader-centric wallet designed for fast asset discovery, quick due diligence, and seamless trade execution, directly addressing the obvious pain points of high-frequency traders. Early natural growth and strong retention data validate the product's fit with a highly attractive initial entry point: a high-value trader group within a multi-billion dollar TAM (with Solana's annual fees exceeding $1 billion as evidence). Its multi-chain development roadmap and synergy with the BNB Chain DeFi ecosystem make Frontrun a strategically significant addition to a broader trading infrastructure stack.
Help.fun: A Crypto Launchpad for Non-Profit Tokens
Founding Team:
Helena Everley: Co-founder, undergraduate student at Stanford University.
Arash Attar: Co-founder and CTO, developed one of the fastest mobile trading applications for memecoins and a high-performance sneaker purchasing bot.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Help.fun is dedicated to building a crypto-native fundraising channel that allows non-profits and startups to issue charitable tokens through fair, bot-resistant distribution methods, addressing the long-standing issue of trust in on-chain fundraising. Its anti-front-running mechanisms (including bait, puzzles, and gas traps) ensure fairness in participation, providing a credible alternative to predatory memecoin launches. With excellent early execution and a strong alignment with the culture and liquidity of the BNB Chain, Help.fun is poised to become a scalable on-chain fundraising vehicle for mission-driven organizations.
Hertzflow: A Permissionless Leverage Market for Any Asset
Founding Team:
Vincent Shang: Co-founder; over 10 years of experience in the crypto field and an influential Chinese KOL.
Hero: Co-founder and Product Lead; previously worked at Coinbase, responsible for CDP and Prime MPC wallet business.
Soren: Technical Lead; former core developer at Mantle (early engineering team member involved from the ground up).
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Hertzflow aims to bridge the gap between the traditional retail derivatives market, with daily trading volumes of up to $4.5 trillion, and the on-chain economy. The protocol is led by a team with deep expertise in traditional derivatives, specifically designed to attract a large and untapped non-crypto-native trader group. Hertzflow has a mature product operating within the BNB Chain ecosystem, combining the efficiency of permissionless on-chain settlement with a user experience tailored for the vast global trading market.
Manifolds: An AI-Driven 3D Spatial Controllable Video Generation Platform
Founding Team:
Qingyuan Shan (CEO): Former Senior Vice President of Corporate Business at Hejing Technology; former strategic head at Taiyang Chuanhe; undergraduate in Mathematics from the University at Buffalo; Master's in Applied Analytics from Columbia University.
Yudong Tao (CTO): Former research data scientist at Meta; Bachelor's in Electronic Engineering from Fudan University, PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Miami.
Naiyuan Huang (COO): Former Sales and Marketing Head at Hejing Technology (Series A); alumni of China Europe International Business School; previously promoted the development of China's second-largest AI talent community.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Manifolds is a key bet on controllable, 3D-perceptive AI video technology, viewing it as an enabling layer for next-generation content creation and embodied AI applications. Its technological differentiation advantages—including 3D spatial generation, physical perception simulation, mixed rendering, and refined object/camera control—position it favorably in high-growth verticals such as e-commerce visualization and real-world integrated AI systems. Strong early business development momentum (annual revenue of $150,000 with 60 paid enterprise clients acquired without paid marketing) demonstrates its clear product maturity, scalable potential, and excellent founder-market fit.
MeleeMon: A Competitive Mobile Game Based on Stablecoin Betting
Founding Team:
Alex (CEO): Ranked among the top 500 Pokémon competitive players globally for four consecutive years; possesses excellent founder-market fit.
Jasper (CTO): Over 6 years of experience in Unity and React development.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
MeleeMon is a skill-based mobile monster battle game. The team has an excellent founder-market fit, with YC-backed game development experience (the previous company Gamebytes had over 5 million users) and deep credentials in the Pokémon competitive field, along with a clear understanding of blockchain-enabled gaming economies. The project targets the large and proven Web2 gambling game market while introducing a new competitive gaming loop on-chain. Given YZi Labs' focus on high-quality, engaging gaming experiences on the BNB Chain, MeleeMon demonstrates strong strategic alignment and reliable execution.
Neomera BioLab: A Non-Opioid Drug Development Platform for Chronic Pain and Mainstream Chronic Diseases
Founding Team:
Rebecca Miao (CEO): Over 15 years of experience in drug development; former Chief Scientific Officer at AKSO Biopharma; led multiple FDA-approved investigational new drug applications; secured $75 million in pharmaceutical collaborations; holds over 200 patents; postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University.
Jimmy Xu (CTO): Bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University; PhD and postdoctoral researcher in Bioengineering from Stanford University; expert in drug screening optimization and biomedical AI.
Yi Lu (CFO): Serial entrepreneur transitioning from investor, previously took a novel pain therapy from concept to clinical trials, receiving top international publications and awards; holds an MBA from Stanford University; previously worked at Bain Capital and Madrone Capital Partners.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Neomera is dedicated to addressing the urgent need for non-addictive therapies for over 1 billion chronic pain patients worldwide. Its "biology-first, AI-accelerated" discovery platform creates a unique advantage: the ability to generate highly relevant proprietary internal data and successfully tackle indications that traditional methods struggle with. This tightly integrated wet lab and machine learning loop fundamentally compresses experimental timelines by up to 80%, establishing a scalable and differentiated engine for rapid drug development for refractory chronic diseases.
Sats Terminal: A Native Bitcoin Liquidity Protocol
Founding Team:
Stan Havryliuk (CEO): Former senior leader at Bitcoin.com, ZondaCrypto, and Ambisafe; led multiple teams from 5 to 50 members.
Rishabh Java (CTO): A serial fintech entrepreneur with exit experience; developed multiple Bitcoin products; previously served as CTO of Ordinals Council, ToshiPad, and Crackedevs.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Sats Terminal is built on BTC and EVM chains (mainly BNB and Base), operating in a large and expanding market driven by BTC lending, yield, and trading demand. They initially entered the market with a Swap aggregation model, quickly accumulating a solid B2B user base (capturing 75% of Runes' total trading volume; with over 30 integrated projects). They are currently expanding into the BTC credit and yield market, showing strong initial momentum. Their early institutional support includes a $1.7 million Pre-seed round led by Coinbase Ventures and Draper Associates.
Saturn Labs: A Platform with Over 10% Yield Based on Bitcoin Credit Support
Founding Team:
Kevin Li (Co-founder & CEO): Co-founder and researcher at ParaFi; former head of DAT at Artemis.
Sebastian Melendez (Co-founder & CTO): Co-founder, former head of stablecoins at Artemis.
Ellis Osborn (Co-founder & COO): Chair of Penn Blockchain; former investor at M31 Capital.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
YZi Labs supports Saturn because the team is building a yield-generating stablecoin with over 10% yield, driven by MicroStrategy's STRC (a transparent and institution-grade BTC credit tool). Saturn sits at the intersection of three rapidly growing sectors in crypto: stablecoins, DATs, and RWAs. The demand for transparent, scalable real yield reserves is increasing, and the founding team's deep experience in DATs, DeFi, and stablecoin architecture positions Saturn to become a core layer of the on-chain economy.
Predict.fun: Enhancing Liquidity in Prediction Markets to Address Capital Inefficiency
Founder:
Ding: Former consultant/investment banker; joined Binance in 2017 and built the Research & Listing team; led Binance Launchpad (2019); founder of PancakeSwap (2020); co-founder of Predict.fun (2024).
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Predict.fun empowers a new mainstream prediction market by transforming event trading into a yield-generating, leveraged, and self-custodial financial primitive, allowing users to fully enjoy DeFi services while participating in predictions. By integrating DeFi-native yields, a smooth on-chain user experience (such as AA account abstraction and gasless transactions), and composability, the protocol effectively lowers the user threshold and positions the prediction market as an easily accessible, utility-driven product for a broader non-crypto-native audience.
Trellis Robotics: Unlocking Hard-to-Reach Industrial Assets with an AI Soft Robot Platform
Founding Team:
Yimeng Qin (CEO): PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University; chief developer of core vine robot technology (graduating in March 2026).
Elvy Yao (COO): Master's in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University (graduating in December 2025); key contributor to the Trellis platform's sensor casing, steering, and mechatronics.
William Heap (Technical Lead): PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University (will work full-time after 2028); has been researching vine robot systems at UC Santa Barbara and Stanford University since 2019.
Investment Logic of YZi Labs:
Trellis Robotics addresses one of the costly and hazardous challenges in industrial operations: the inspection of confined space infrastructure. The precision, reach, and safety levels of its unique vine robot platform are unmatched by human inspectors and existing tools, creating a clear competitive advantage in a large and underserved market. Early validations include pilot projects with Dow Chemical and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as interest from BASF, Bayer, and Chevron, indicating that the technology is ready to meet market demands and has a reliable path to enterprise-scale applications.
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