Ava Labs, the main developer of the Avalanche blockchain, has poached two Polygon and OKX employees as it looks to grow in India.
Devika Mittal and Kamakshi Arjun have joined Ava Labs as head of India and head of business development for India, respectively, to help grow Avalanche’s adoption in the country, Ava Labs said on Wednesday. Mittal previously worked for crypto exchange OKX as head of listings, while Arjun was head of partnerships at Polygon Labs in India.
“India is a very big market,” Mittal told The Block in an interview. “There are a lot of institutions and developers that we want to work with. We are already in discussions with many different large institutions, very prominent institutions, and we have already closed a deal with a government agency,” said Mittal, declining to share specific details.
Mittal said Ava will focus on ticketing, certification, supply chain and other sectors. She said Ava will reflect its global partnerships in India and provide examples of recent collaborations, including with SK Planet’s electronics and entertainment company Dreamus, to enhance the ticketing experience. Earlier this year, Indian game streaming platform Loco partnered with Ava to create new fan experiences on Avalanche.
Avalanche subnets
Mittal highlighted the subnets feature of Avalanche that it believes will help increase blockchain adoption. Avalanche recently launched AvaCloud, a no-code platform for launching “custom blockchains,” also known as subnets, on top of the Avalanche network. Subnets help developers build customizable blockchains and specialized decentralized applications quickly and at a lower cost than building their own networks from scratch. Last year, the Avalanche Foundation announced a token stimulus program worth $290 million at the time (now worth about $36 million), to encourage the growth of subnets on its blockchain.
Ava has a business development fund specifically for India, Mittal said, but declined to comment on its size. Ava isn’t the only blockchain developer looking to expand in India, the world’s fifth-largest economy. Polygon’s home base is India. Near Foundation and Algorand have also recently expanded their wings to India. Mittal said Ava doesn’t want to steal a piece of the pie but wants to expand the pie.
Mittal and Arjun joined Ava Labs last month as the first full-time employees in India. The local team now consists of about five people and looks set to remain lean for the foreseeable future.
Avalanche is currently the seventh largest blockchain network in the world, with a total value of almost $500 million, according to DefiLlama data.