Catalyst

Cata Labs, established in 2022 by co-founders Alexander Lindgren and Jim Chang, is a software development company focused on the blockchain sector. The firm secured $4.2 million in a seed funding round in April 2023, led by Spartan Group and with participation from other investors including Robot Ventures, HashKey Capital, and Circle Ventures. The company was acquired by LI.FI in February 2025.

Cata Labs operates by developing open-source software, with its primary offering being Catalyst, an interoperability protocol designed to function as a universal liquidity layer for modular blockchains. This addresses the challenge of interoperability in a future anticipated to have millions of distinct blockchains, which would otherwise remain isolated. The business model centers on providing tools that enable developers to seamlessly connect new blockchains to established networks like Ethereum and Cosmos. This allows for the permissionless swapping of assets and access to decentralized applications across any connected chain.

The core product, Catalyst, is a cross-chain Automated Market Maker (AMM) engineered to be lightweight for quick deployment on new chains, granting them immediate access to the broader ecosystem. A key feature is its message aggregator, which functions as a cross-chain router utilizing various interoperability protocols such as IBC and Wormhole. This bridge-agnostic design avoids dependence on any single provider and ensures that new chains can be integrated automatically and rapidly. The protocol aims to provide a one-click transaction experience using native assets, focusing on capital-efficient liquidity and sustainable yield.

Keywords: cross-chain liquidity, blockchain interoperability, open-source protocol, modular blockchains, decentralized finance, automated market maker, developer tooling, asset swapping, liquidity layer, permissionless