Liveblocks
Real-time collaboration infrastructure - a Delaware C-Corp Series B.
At a Glance
- Legal name
- Liveblocks Inc.
- Jurisdiction
- Delaware
- Ownership
- private
- Employees
- 30+
- Revenue (est.)
- $5M-$10M
- Headquarters
- c/o Corporation Trust Center, 1209 N Orange St, Wilmington, DE 19801
Liveblocks Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated real-time collaboration infrastructure company founded in 2021 by Guillaume Salles and Steven Fabre.
Liveblocks Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated real-time collaboration infrastructure company founded in 2021 by Guillaume Salles and Steven Fabre. The platform provides ready-made APIs and React/JavaScript primitives for multiplayer presence, cursors, comments, threads, notifications, text editor synchronization (Yjs and Slate), and conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs) - turning the hard distributed-systems work behind Figma-style collaboration into a managed service for any application. Operational headquarters are remote-first with team distribution across Europe and North America. Liveblocks raised a 4 million US dollar seed round in 2022, an 8 million US dollar Series A in 2023, and a 15 million US dollar Series B led by Boldstart and Resonant in 2024, bringing total funding above 27 million US dollars. Customers include Maze, Browserbase, Tella, Sanity, and a long tail of SaaS products adding multiplayer features. The legal entity is Liveblocks Inc., a Delaware C-Corporation with its registered agent at the Corporation Trust Center in Wilmington.
- 1
Estonia e-Residency play
Liveblocks is a Series-B dev-tools infrastructure Delaware C-Corp with a partly-open structure: the React, JavaScript, and language-specific SDK packages on npm are released under Apache 2.0, while the cloud control plane, the WebSocket gateway, the CRDT merge engine, and the multi-tenant infrastructure remain closed source. The capital stack is conventional Delaware preferred-stock: pre-seed and seed SAFEs in 2021-2022, priced 4 million US dollar seed extension in 2022 with full preferred-stock terms (some seed rounds skip directly to priced rather than SAFE - depends on lead investor preference), priced Series A in 2023, priced Series B in 2024 led by Boldstart Ventures and Resonant. Each priced round issued a new series of convertible preferred stock with 1x non-participating liquidation preference, weighted-average anti-dilution, pro rata rights for the lead, and standard NVCA voting/IRA/ROFR documentation.
- 2
Share class engineering
The option pool was refreshed at each priced round; common holders bear dilution pre-money, with typical 8-12 percent dilution per round between fresh issuance and pool top-up. The 409A valuation is refreshed annually and after each material round, with common stock priced at a 25-35 percent discount to the latest preferred for a Series-B-stage company. Liveblocks does not have super-voting founder shares - far too early to pre-position for an IPO.
- 3
Estonia e-Residency play
The partly-open licensing strategy serves dual purposes: the SDKs need to be permissively licensed for developer adoption (corporate legal teams reject AGPL on client SDKs by default), while the closed-source server side preserves the commercial moat. A Contributor License Agreement covers SDK contributions; CIIAA covers all employee work. Trademarks (the Liveblocks wordmark and logo) are USPTO-registered to Liveblocks Inc. Delaware is the only sensible jurisdiction: every institutional VC writes preferred-stock terms assuming Delaware default rules, the Chancery court has decided every preferred-stock dispute imaginable, QSBS Section 1202 requires a domestic C-Corp, and the eventual exit will be cleaner from a Delaware C-Corp than from any alternative.
Replicate Liveblocks's structure in 4 steps
The formation playbook, distilled from how this company was actually set up.
Registered agent setup
To form a Liveblocks-style real-time collaboration infrastructure company, file a Delaware Certificate of Incorporation authorizing 10 million common shares plus a 15-20 percent option pool. Appoint a Delaware registered agent.
Estonia e-Residency play
Issue founder common with four-year vesting, one-year cliff, and double-trigger acceleration; file 83(b) elections within 30 days. Use post-money SAFEs for pre-seed; convert to Series A Preferred at the first priced round of 5 million US dollars or more under NVCA model documents.
Estonia e-Residency play
Release client SDKs (React, JavaScript, language bindings) under Apache 2.0 or MIT to maximize developer adoption; keep the WebSocket gateway, CRDT merge engine, and multi-tenant control plane closed source. Establish a Contributor License Agreement for SDK contributions.
Trademark wordmark and logo at the USPTO
Trademark wordmark and logo at the USPTO. Budget 5-8k US dollars in year-one legal fees.
Recent News & Filings
- Liveblocks - CloudflareCloudflare · 17 Apr 2025
- Sequoia backs PartyKit to power real-time multiplayer collaboration for any app - TechCrunchTechCrunch · 26 Sep 2023
- Liveblocks Raises $5M in Seed Funding - FinSMEsFinSMEs · 21 Mar 2022
- Liveblocks is an API that lets you add real-time collaboration to your product - TechCrunchTechCrunch · 16 Sep 2021
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a real-time infrastructure startup use SAFEs or priced rounds at seed?
Both patterns are common at seed. Pure SAFEs (YC-style) work well when round sizes are under 3 million US dollars and the lead investor is an angel or accelerator. Priced seed rounds become more common as round sizes climb above 3 million US dollars or when sophisticated leads want full preferred-stock protections (liquidation preference, anti-dilution, pro rata, board seat) earlier. Liveblocks raised a priced 4 million US dollar seed extension, which gave investors immediate preferred-stock protections but cost more in legal fees (30-60k US dollars versus under 1k for a SAFE).
Why does a real-time infrastructure dev-tools company pick Delaware over Wyoming?
Real-time infrastructure companies need to raise institutional venture to fund the WebSocket gateway, the CRDT engine, and the multi-region distributed systems work, and US venture requires Delaware. The Chancery court has the deepest preferred-stock case law in the US. QSBS Section 1202 treatment requires a domestic C-Corporation, which Delaware is the natural default for. Wyoming's LLC privacy is irrelevant once an institutional cap table is filed, and a pre-Series-A redomicile costs legal fees and resets the QSBS five-year clock.
How does an open-SDK closed-server real-time platform handle OSS licensing?
Release client SDKs (React, JavaScript, language bindings) under Apache 2.0 or MIT - permissive licenses are essential for SDK adoption because corporate legal teams reject copyleft licenses on client code by default. Keep the WebSocket gateway, the CRDT merge engine, the multi-tenant control plane, and the storage layer closed source. A Contributor License Agreement governs SDK contributions and grants the Delaware C-Corp broad relicensing rights. The C-Corp owns all trademarks (USPTO-registered) and core IP.
What founder vesting standards apply at Series-B real-time infrastructure companies?
Four-year vesting with a one-year cliff is universal. By Series B, founder vesting from incorporation may be partly complete, but any new options or RSUs granted at Series B carry their own four-year vesting schedule. Double-trigger acceleration on change of control - acquisition plus involuntary termination within 12 months - is the standard Boldstart and Resonant term sheet. 83(b) elections within 30 days of restricted stock issuance remain mandatory; failure to file forces ordinary-income tax on each vesting tranche, which can cost millions.
Sponsored Content Inquiries
Publish a long-form sponsored article about Liveblocks or your related business on Corpy. Editorial-style, SEO-optimized, linked from our country and industry hubs.
Start a sponsored article