EasyA x Polkadot Hackathon Winners Accepted to YCombinator to Secure Web3

[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, United States, October 28th, 2024]

Another set of EasyA hackathon winners (also known as “gigabrains”) are headed to Y Combinator. Artemiy Malyshau and Jeevan Juttla attended their first EasyA x Polkadot hackathon nearly two years ago, where they first started experimenting with the ideas that would later become Gecko Sec. Today, they’ve just been accepted into the world-famous Y Combinator accelerator, which has backed some of the world’s most successful Web3 companies like CoinBase, Filecoin and many more.

According to the team, Gecko Sec lets Web3 developers build secure code quickly without wasting time on tools that don’t deliver results, or relying on one-time human pentests that quickly become outdated. As they continue to develop their groundbreaking software, they’re working on rolling this out for teams building on Polkadot. Writing code that is secure and safe is one of the biggest concerns for Web3 developers, with many millions of dollars spent on security audits every month in Web3 alone.

EasyA gigabrains Jeevan Jutla and Artemiy Malyshau credit EasyA with helping them get off the ground and giving them the inspiration to succeed.

“What started off at an EasyA hackathon has led to us getting backed by Y Combinator. Big shoutout to Phil and Dom for pushing us out of our comfort zone and getting us here!” said Artemiy Malyshau, Co-Founder of Gecko Sec.

Jeevan Juttla and Artemiy Malyshau have also got highly accomplished professional and educational backgrounds. Jeevan Juttla, CEO and Co-founder of Gecko Sec, graduated with a First Class Degree in Electrical Engineering from King’s College London. After graduating, Jeevan was hired by the UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre to secure the British Government’s data and subsequently joined Binance as a Security Engineer.

Artemiy Malyshau also graduated with First Class Honours in Electrical Engineering from King’s College London, one of the UK’s top universities. Shortly after this, he earned a Master’s Degree with Distinction in Applied Computational Science and Engineering from Imperial College University.

GeckoSec joins a long list of EasyA hackathon winners who’ve gone on to achieve storied success in blockchain. Other EasyA hackathon winners like Axal, founded by Harvard grad Ashlan Ahmed, have been backed by a16z and are planning to announce their latest fundraising round later this month. To date, EasyA alumni have already founded companies valued at nearly $3 billion.

EasyA has received interest from VCs who want access to its startups pipeline. Although it won’t share the precise details yet, EasyA shares that it has its sights set on launching a fund designed to invest exclusively in its gigabrain community and hackathon winners.

“Seeing our EasyA gigabrains go from launching at our hackathons to getting accepted into YC is testament to the talent density and founder spirit within the EasyA community. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” said Dom Kwok, Co-Founder of EasyA.

Much of the success of EasyA hackathon winners can be traced to the company’s co-founders, who have been instrumental in spotting young talent and nurturing them as founders. Users can go to any EasyA hackathon and find Phil and Dom on the ground, inspiring developers to launch the next unicorns. EasyA co-founders Phil and Dom have been active in blockchain for over 10 years. Prior to EasyA, Phil worked at prestigious law firm Sullivan & Cromwell and Dom worked at the world’s largest Private Equity firm, The Blackstone Group. Their educational backgrounds have also given them, and EasyA, a unique pipeline of talented founders across the US and Europe. Phil was a top scholar at Cambridge University, and Dom studied at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated Cum Laude as a Joseph Wharton and Benjamin Franklin Scholar.

According to Phil and Dom, they’re just getting started. Numerous high-profile fundraising announcements are coming out of the EasyA community over the coming months.

About EasyA

EasyA is one of Web3’s most popular apps, making it possible for anyone to learn about Web3 right from their phones. Learners earn rewards for mastering new skills, and the best ones are invited to in-person hackathons to launch their startups in world-leading hubs like San Francisco, London and Singapore. EasyA alumni have founded startups valued at nearly $3 billion and have raised from top VCs like a16z, Founders Fund, YC and many more.

Launched by brothers Phil and Dom Kwok, top grads from the University of Cambridge and The Wharton School respectively, EasyA has over 1 million users and has won Apple’s highly-coveted App of the Day award.

Users can learn more: https://www.easya.io/