Subzero Labs | Rialo

Subzero Labs is developing Rialto, a decentralized programmable network designed to simplify the creation of internet-scale decentralized applications (dApps). The company emerged from stealth in August 2025, announcing an initial financing round of $20 million. The round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Variant, Coinbase Ventures, Hashed, Susquehanna Crypto, Mysten Labs, and others.

The company was founded by Ade Adepoju and Lu Zhang. Both founders are early engineers from Mysten Labs, where they contributed to the Sui network. Zhang's background includes working on Meta's Diem crypto initiative and large-scale AI/ML infrastructure at both Meta and Google. Adepoju has experience developing distributed systems at Netflix and advanced microchips at AMD. Their shared experience with layer-1 protocols and dApps led them to identify a gap between network infrastructure capabilities and the needs of application developers, which Rialto aims to close.

Subzero Labs' core product, the Rialto network, is engineered to provide developers with the responsiveness and functionality of Web2 development. It aims to reduce complexity by offering features like native web connectivity, event-driven transactions, and built-in privacy, eliminating the need for developers to integrate multiple third-party services. The platform supports use cases such as tokenized assets, prediction markets, global trading platforms, and AI agent orchestration. By leveraging RISC-V architecture with Solana VM compatibility, Rialto allows development teams to deploy existing programs while accessing a richer feature set. The platform targets both crypto-native and non-crypto developers, enabling access to off-chain data without requiring traditional oracles. The business model appears to be based on providing the foundational infrastructure for developers, enterprises, and consumers, with revenue likely generated through network usage and associated services. A private devnet is currently live for early development partners.

Keywords: decentralized applications, dApps, blockchain infrastructure, Web3 development, real-world assets, layer-1 protocol, event-driven transactions, Solana VM, RISC-V, Pantera Capital