YZi Labs Managing Partner Ella Zhang: Innovation Shouldn't Be Limited to Silicon Valley
Ella Zhang stated that innovation is not limited to Silicon Valley, and technology should have no borders; YZi Labs aims to be a borderless incubator focused on cutting-edge technology, with the EASY Residency targeting global founders who dare to dream, are grounded, and especially lack the privileges and capital access of Silicon Valley founders. She returned to Singapore from India via the foothills of the Himalayas, stating the goal is to empower more founders in the next phase.
YZi Labs was renamed and became independent from Binance Labs in January 2025, expanding its investment scope to Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. The EASY Residency is a ten-week program: five weeks online and five weeks on-site, with accommodation and workspace covered by the program. Teams can receive up to approximately $500,000, structured with a SAFE that offers $150,000 for 5% equity. The fourth season will be held in Bhutan's Gallep Mindfulness City, while the fifth season is directed towards Thailand, with applications previously due by September 13. Over 65 companies have been incubated so far, with about 25 teams presenting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View during the third season.
The mentor list includes Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, and Binance co-founder He Yi, among others. Topics range from prediction markets, decentralized finance, on-chain foreign exchange, and stablecoins, to privacy, alternative physical assets, and AI infrastructure. Zhang previously worked at Kleiner Perkins, later led the incubation at Binance Labs, and returned after founding an AI company. The project publicly benchmarks against HF0-style closed residencies, turning demonstration days at the New York Stock Exchange, Dubai, and Silicon Valley into a touring export.
The buyers are founders seeking distribution within the Binance ecosystem and non-Silicon Valley fundraising channels, while the sellers are exchange-affiliated funds relocating residencies out of the Bay Area to capture global projects. The event is driven by her return statement. Beneficiaries are teams that can access Bhutan or Thailand concurrently, while the pressured parties are traditional seed rounds that only recognize Stanford zip codes.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Zhang has framed "no Silicon Valley privilege" as a fundraising slogan, with the actual product being the transfer of Binance Labs' thematic investments to residencies in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. The $500,000 for early equity, combined with demonstration day connections, aims to reduce the cost of living in the Bay Area through geographical migration while directing project flows into the exchange ecosystem. Bhutan's sovereign tech city and the Thailand residency replicate closed cohabitation in regulatory experimental zones and tourist visa-friendly areas, rather than simply renting another floor in Menlo Park.
The capital path remains theme-driven: prediction markets were featured in the second season and connected to Binance, the third season focused on decentralized finance and stablecoins, and the next season will cover programmable capital, computing power, and physical AI. Funds will come from the fund, with distribution and listing expectations stemming from the exchange brand. She emphasizes alumni returning as mentors, creating a reusable colleague network from the connections made during the 70s token cycle, paralleling Graham's concept of peer comparison, just with offices relocated to Thimphu or Bangkok.
Comparative models include YC batches and HF0-style residential accelerators, as well as the Singapore government's treatment of founder visas as industrial policy. The industry is in a phase of de-branding crypto funds and expanding to capture non-Bay Area founders through residencies.
Structurally, it belongs to capital concentration. The mechanism is: early projects most lack peer comparison and the first check; whoever can package these two into cities with better visas can open another funnel outside of Silicon Valley premiums. "No borders" is a marketing term; the residency coordinates are the actual filter.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
- Borderless incubators ultimately need to settle in a city with visas.
- Silicon Valley privilege lacks a zip code; funds sell peer comparisons.
- Changing residency locations does not change the thematic investment funnel.