Satsuma is a blockchain data indexing platform that was founded in 2022 by Jonathan Kau and Dan Li. The platform has drop-in support for hosted graphs. Additional features include sub-graph indexing with high reliability and low block lag, advanced metrics for monitoring indexing and a GraphQL API with low response times and high availability. The platform also supports queries and runs a flexible subgraph versioning system. The firm prides itself in offering reliable subgraph indexing for web3 teams therefore, speeding up applications with best-in-class blockchain indexing and query platform. This platform also allows developers to build applications on real-time blockchain data while taking decoded data from multiple chains and customizing it to suit their use cases and access it through API endpoints.
Satsuma has recently raised $5 million in a seed fundraising round that was co-led by Initialized Capital and Archetype. The event also saw participation from other investment firms including Homebrew, Opensea, Y Combinator and South Park Commons. According to Jonathan Kau, who also doubles as the Satsuma’s CEO, the delay in announcing the equity round was because the team was heavily invested in building the startup platform.
The platform will make it easier to search and analyze data stored on a blockchain for the purpose of gaining deeper perspectives from it. Some of the insights that could be gained from this operation include the TVL(Total Value Locked) in a DeFi protocol. According to Mr. Kau, TVL has a very complex computation process. He added that function calls to the blockchain can not be sufficient to get this data as more intensive processing is required.
Satsuma utilizes open-source technology from The Graph – a blockchain indexing startup designed to decentralize curation of blockchain data while allowing users to earn income in the process. However, Satsuma is a business entity with with a SaaS(Software as a Service) model and is therefore not a decentralized protocol. The platform collects requests of the kind of data required by clients then processes it using its custom API. Some of its clients include Aragon, Syndicate and Decentraland.
The CEO also revealed that the platform’s income has grown by 80% month-to-month over the past 6 months despite the prevailing conditions in the crypto market. He attributed this to the developers’ strong interest in crypto and the demand for better infrastructure. According to Mr. Kau, Satsuma maintains a lean team and intends to maintain that in future as it currently has 5 employees. He however, iterated the platform’s commitment to make their tooling usable and at a very fast pace so that web3 developers can create the same solutions for web2 systems.
Among other benefits, Satsuma offers 99% uptime, speedy indexing and queries, White-glove support, advanced metrics, direct database access, data warehouse synchronization and flexible versioning.
