QuikNode, a Miami-based startup that allows any software engineer to integrate with blockchain at the production scale within 1 day, without talking to anyone or signing long-term contracts, launched in 2017. But the idea for the business had been maturing since 2013, said Dmitry Shklovsky, who is the CEO and co-founder.
Shklovsky, who is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, and lived in New York City for many years, met his three co-founders while working together at various companies.
“When we started this company, we already had this superpower team, earth, fire, water…if you want to put it that way,” he added, describing Manuel Kreutz, Auston Bunsen, and Alexander Nabutovsky. While all the co-founders are based in Miami, the rest of the 10-person team is remote, both within the U.S. and abroad.
Several of the team members have web hosting experience, which Shklovsky said helped tremendously in the development of the products. Both he and Nabutovsky worked at ISPRIME, an internet service provider that specializes in managed server clusters, databases, security, load-balancing, backups, custom application development, and programming. The company opened an office in Miami in 2009, and that’s how Shklovsky ended up here – and he’s never left. Additionally, because all the co-founders are technical, the company has been able to get pretty far with very little cash.
In 2018 and 2019, QuikNode raised a $500K friends and family round. “With that amount of money, we were able to build a product that took other companies millions to build…because we’re building from experience with a lot of hands-on experience. With that, we’re able to pass on our cost savings to our users and therefore generate more value from them,” Shklovsky said.
Their next funding came just last month QuikNode was awarded funding by the new Softbank $100 million initiative in Miami. QuikNode declined to disclose the amount.
From #DeFi to #NFT and everything blockchain in between, QuikNode has more than 350 paying companies and individuals, and currently serves up over 8 billion requests per month, said Shklovsky.
“It was several years of really hard work where we didn’t know if we’d make it to the next month, and thinking ‘Is this worth our time?’ but finally there were some tailwinds, and I’m glad that we persisted with the vision for this project,” Shklovsky said.
In February of 2020, the company came out with a new product called the QuikNode API.
“In 2020 we had explosive growth despite everything, despite Covid, all of us really feel fortunate to have an online business during this time,” he added. In fact, Shklovsky said that revenue grew by “more than 1,000 percent in 2020 alone.”
QuikNode operates as a SaaS company with 2 different products and tiers. The entry-level plan is $9/month with a 7-day free trial, and then it jumps to $99 and $299 per month, respectively. Shklovsky explained that the main difference is the number of API requests/calls which are included plus overage fees. “We also have custom enterprise plans that include white glove customer support,” he added.
Because the founders can build the products themselves, their overhead has been very low, said Shklovsky. “This lack of overhead allows us to offer no long-term contracts and the ability to cancel anytime,” he added.
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At top of post, from left: QuikNode co-founders Dmitry Shklovsky, Alex Nabutovsky, Auston Bunsen, Manuel Kreutz
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