YZi Labs began as Binance Labs in 2017, founded by Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as the venture and incubation arm of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. A year later, he invited Ella Zhang – a Stanford GSB alum and former investor at Kleiner Perkins – to lead and scale the effort. In January 2025, Binance Labs officially rebranded to YZi Labs, marking an evolution to an independent investment vehicle that now focuses on Web3, AI, and biotechnology. Since August 2022, Yi He has headed YZi Labs, which operates as a venture capital firm and family office associated with Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao.
The firm targets early-stage blockchain and crypto projects with an emphasis on incubation. Since 2017, more than two hundred projects across 25 countries on 5 continents have obtained investments from Binance Labs. By August 2022, Binance Labs already had $7.5 billion in assets under management, with more than 200 crypto projects in its portfolio. YZi Labs has been reported as managing a portfolio of more than 250 projects and several billion dollars in assets, including significant exposure to the BNB Chain ecosystem. In 2024, Binance Labs invested in 46 projects, with 14 from its BNB Chain-focused MVB program and incubation initiatives, and 32 from direct investments.
The conviction of helping builders through intensive incubation remains the same – now amplified through EASY Residency, a next-generation platform deliberately constructed to break down silos, connecting Web3, AI, and Biotech founders. The firm focuses on pre-seed to seed stage investments and provides capital alongside mentorship in legal, marketing, tokenomics, and talent acquisition.
Notable Investments
The company led more than 50 crypto-native Web3 startups through its incubation program, including projects such as Polygon, Dune Analytics, and Perpetual Protocol. Early-stage incubations grew into core Web3 infrastructure and applications, including Polygon, Injective, SafePal, Dunes Analytics, and more. The most prominent investments included Polygon, Kava, NEAR Protocol, Aptos, Maverick Protocol, MultiversX, Ankr, Neutron, Gala, Chiliz, Web3Go, and many more bright projects.
The fund's investments span several sectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence (AI), the Bitcoin ecosystem, restaking protocols, gaming, zero-knowledge (ZK) technologies, real-world assets (RWA), and consumer applications. Binance Labs' portfolio demonstrates a chain-agnostic approach, incorporating projects from blockchain networks such as Solana, Ethereum, Telegram, and several Layer 2 solutions. According to the user-provided metadata, the firm's latest deal was Derivio for $6 million in March 2026.
Team
The current team includes Changpeng Zhao (Co-Founder), Ella Zhang (Head of YZi Labs), Dana Hou (Investment Partner), Alex Odagiu (Investment Partner), Andy Chang (Investment Director), Max Coniglio (Investment Director), and Nicola W. (Investment Director). Ella Zhang returned after founding her own AI startups, bringing with her a renewed sense of empathy for founders and a deeper understanding of the zero-to-one journey.
Yi He joined the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin as vice-president and chief marketing officer in March 2014, where she recruited engineer Changpeng Zhao to the company. She and Zhao co-founded Binance in 2017, and within six months of launch, the exchange was reported as the largest globally by trading volume. Since December 2025, she has served as co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Binance, alongside Richard Teng.
Recent Activity
The January 2025 rebrand to YZi Labs marks a strategic pivot beyond pure crypto investing. Looking ahead to 2025, Binance Labs focused on key areas including crypto/blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology, with particular attention to innovations emerging at the intersection of these fields. Season 1 of EASY Residency successfully concluded as an immersive program in New York, and Season 2 has expanded globally with hubs in New York, San Francisco, Dubai, and Singapore.
In October 2025, the firm announced a $1 billion "BNB Builder Fund" for BNB Chain projects. Binance Labs announced a strategic investment in BIO Protocol in November 2024, signifying the firm's entry into the growing Decentralized Science (DeSci) sector. The firm continues to run the Most Valuable Builder (MVB) accelerator, which accounts for roughly 20% of its investment activity tied to the BNB ecosystem.
YZi Labs has established itself as one of crypto's most active incubators with a track record spanning seven years. Its evolution from exchange-affiliated venture arm to independent multi-sector investment vehicle positions it to capture opportunities in emerging tech convergence. With over 280 investments and a retail ROI exceeding 1.6x, the firm balances ecosystem building with returns. The leadership team's operational experience founding and scaling Binance provides portfolio companies with strategic advantages in exchange listings, liquidity, and go-to-market support. The expansion into AI and biotech represents a long-term bet on technology convergence, though the crypto-native portfolio remains the core focus and source of proven returns.
