Torus Labs

Torus Labs, operating under the brand Web3Auth, is a Singapore-based firm founded in 2018 by Co-Founders Yong Zhen Yu and Leonard Tan. The company is positioned at the intersection of blockchain and user experience design, addressing a critical barrier to mainstream adoption of decentralized applications (dApps): complex and unfamiliar login processes.

The core of the business is a non-custodial key management infrastructure designed for Web3 applications and wallets. This system is built to provide a login experience that mirrors the simplicity of traditional Web 2.0 platforms. Torus Labs achieves this through its proprietary threshold cryptography technology, which splits a user's private key into multiple shares. These shares are distributed across the user's device, social media accounts, and a decentralized network of nodes, ensuring that no single entity, including Torus Labs itself, has complete control over the key. To access their wallet or dApp, a user needs to combine a threshold number of these shares, a process that can be initiated through familiar methods like a Google login, email, or biometric authentication like FaceID.

The company's main product, Web3Auth, provides developers with a pluggable authentication SDK. This allows developers to integrate seamless, one-click logins into their applications, significantly reducing the friction for new users who are unaccustomed to managing cryptographic keys. The business model operates on a B2B licensing and usage-based framework. It offers a free tier for developers with up to 1,000 monthly active users, with paid plans for larger applications that require customization and dedicated support. In July 2019, the company secured a $2 million seed funding round from investors including Multicoin Capital, Binance Labs, and Coinbase Ventures. This was followed by a $13 million Series A in early 2022, led by Sequoia India, which coincided with the rebranding of its authentication SDK to Web3Auth.

Keywords: Web3Auth, blockchain authentication, key management, decentralized identity, non-custodial wallet, dApp development, user onboarding, threshold cryptography, private key management, social login, passwordless login, SDK, API, Web3 infrastructure, digital ownership, blockchain security, crypto wallet, self-custodial, Leonard Tan, Yong Zhen Yu, Singapore