Sorella Labs

Sorella Labs, founded in 2022 by university dropouts Ludwig Thouvenin (CEO) and Karthik Srinivasan, is a financial technology company operating in the cryptocurrency sector. The founders met at the University of Chicago, where their shared interest in blockchain technology led them to leave their studies to establish the company. Prior to founding Sorella, Srinivasan had internship experience at Citadel, and Thouvenin at Ubisoft. The Manhattan-based firm focuses on mitigating Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) on the Ethereum network, a practice where transaction order is manipulated for profit, creating an unfair market.

The company addresses the MEV problem at the application layer, which complements the protocol-level work of collaborators like Flashbots. Sorella Labs develops tools to create a more equitable and efficient environment for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) users. In September 2023, the company secured $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by Paradigm, with participation from Uniswap Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Robot Ventures, and Nascent. The funding was publicly announced in August 2024 as the company emerged from stealth mode.

Sorella Labs has developed two primary products to combat MEV. The first, Brontes, is an open-source blockchain analytics tool that processes Ethereum blocks to identify and classify MEV activities through pattern matching. It serves as a sophisticated MEV explorer, providing transparency into the MEV supply chain. The second product, Angstrom, is designed as a Uniswap V4 hook to function as an MEV-free decentralized exchange (DEX). Angstrom utilizes an off-chain network to conduct two auctions per block: one to determine the first transaction and a second batch auction where all other orders execute at the same price, preventing common arbitrage strategies like front-running and sandwich attacks. This system aims to redirect value back to liquidity providers and traders.

Keywords: Maximum Extractable Value, MEV, Decentralized Finance, DeFi, Ethereum, blockchain analytics, Uniswap V4, crypto startup, transaction sequencing, arbitrage mitigation, front-running prevention, sandwich attack prevention, on-chain markets, liquidity, decentralized exchange, DEX, Brontes, Angstrom, Paradigm, Ludwig Thouvenin, Karthik Srinivasan