Case study
Running a venture studio on AI agents
We turned our own studio into the case study: five operators using AI agents, coding assistants, and persistent knowledge systems to operate with the leverage of a much larger team.
AI-native venture studio building trust technology.
Five operators. Eight ventures. One AI-assisted operating layer. vDL builds blockchain infrastructure, verifiable identity, and industry dataspaces, powered by AI-native operations that let a small team do unreasonable things.
AI ops active
vDL Operating Layer
Live
ops.vdl.digital
vdl@studio:~$ run ops --loop
01agentsbriefings · monitoring · routing
02codingcodex · claude code · review loops
03memoryobsidian graph · decisions synced
04infraprivate context · local capability
++++ persistent contexthuman review in loop
- operators
- 5
- ventures
- 8
- assisted
- AI
Built for and alongside leading blockchain ecosystems, and backed world-class founders through SpaceshipDAO.
Numbers that actually matter
- StakeNow delegators
- 0+
- SIWT downloads
- 0+
- ASCS ecosystem members
- 0+
- Founders backed
- 0+
AI operating layer - The operating layer behind the studio.
AI is not a service line we bolt onto projects. It is the operating layer underneath how vDL builds, invests, and amplifies: persistent memory, delegated execution, human review, and clean handoff.
Skills / MCP layer
Tools become repeatable operating loops.
We package workflows as skills, connectors, and review loops so each project starts with memory instead of a blank prompt.
Google Stitch
UI prototyping
Karpathy's Autoresearch
research loops
Codex
implementation
Claude Code
code review
Obsidian MCP
project memory
Browser MCP
local QA
mcp.run sync context -- review -- ship
AI agents
Research, monitoring, meeting support, and operational loops run continuously around the team.
AI coding workflows
Codex, Claude Code, and review loops compress implementation without removing senior judgment.
Obsidian knowledge systems
Project context becomes persistent memory instead of disappearing into chats and calls.
Private AI capability
Local and controlled infrastructure keeps sensitive work closer to the people responsible for it.
Our journey - Seven years in, still building
We started with staking infrastructure and ended up deep in self-sovereign identity. The ecosystem changed, we changed with it, but the focus on trust, privacy, and making things people actually use? That never moved.
2018
StakeNow
Started as a Tezos staking service. Grew it to 1,400+ delegators, our first real proof that people trusted what we built.
2021
SIWT & SpaceshipDAO
Shipped Sign-in with Tezos (an open-source auth SDK that actually got used) and joined SpaceshipDAO as venture partners.
2023
ENVITED-X
Went deep on SSI/DID, building decentralized data governance for automotive simulation. Big pivot, but it paid off.
2025
Haven
Spun off Haven: infrastructure for industry consortia to run secure, sovereign data marketplaces. Self-guaranteeing promises, not just claims.
Built, shipped, proven.
We don't pitch ideas. We ship products. From hackathon-winning auth protocols to EU-backed automotive dataspaces, every project in our portfolio went live.
Case study
Infrastructure for sovereign data marketplaces
Haven helps industry consortia run secure, specialized data marketplaces where participants keep control of their own data and prove trust through verifiable credentials.
Case study
Decentralized data spaces for automotive simulation - built from scratch
ENVITED-X is a decentralized data space for the automotive simulation industry. We built it with ASCS to let companies collaborate on critical simulation data without giving up control of their IP.
ENVITED-X is changing how the simulation industry collaborates. Real data sovereignty, real innovation, real connections.
Dipl.-Ing. Alexander F. Walser
Managing Director, ASCS e.V.
What we do - Trust technology, built AI-native.
We build systems that let organizations transact, verify, and collaborate without intermediaries. And we do it using AI-augmented workflows that compress timelines and amplify precision.
- Trust Architecture & Blockchain. We design privacy-preserving, decentralized architectures, from smart contracts and tokenized access to full blockchain integration across L1 and L2 networks. Ethereum, Tezos, Etherlink, Solana: we've shipped on all of them. Everything we build is open-source by default.
- Identity & Verifiable Credentials. Self-sovereign identity isn't a buzzword for us. It's a product line. We build authentication flows, credential systems, and access control that keep users in charge of their own data.
- Dataspaces & Industry Collaboration. We architect open, interoperable dataspaces for industries that need to share sensitive assets securely. Our Envited-X platform serves the European automotive simulation ecosystem as part of the GAIA-X initiative.
- AI-Native Operations & Consulting. We've spent years building AI-augmented operational workflows: autonomous agents, AI coding pipelines, AI knowledge systems. We help other organizations adopt the same approach: more output, fewer people, zero compromise on quality. See how we run it ourselves.