YZi Labs Promotes Alex Odagiu to Investment Partner, Strengthening Leadership Across Token, Equity, and Strategic Investments

Key takeaways: 

• Alex Odagiu has been promoted from Investment Director to Investment Partner, expanding his role in leading YZi Labs’ token, equity, and strategic investments.
• Inspired by CZ and Ella’s leadership, Alex is committed to carrying forward the culture he joined in 2021: staying close to founders and backing bold ideas that endures beyond cycles.

YZi Labs has promoted Alex Odagiu from Investment Director to Investment Partner, strengthening his role in leading the firm’s token, equity, and strategic investments. Since joining in 2021, Alex has helped shape YZi Labs’ Web3 strategy, building conviction across themes such as DeFi, payments, stablecoins, RWA tokenization, and the convergence of traditional finance and crypto. His promotion reflects years of contribution and trust, and marks a deeper role in advancing YZi Labs’s mission of backing long-term founders that move humanity forward.

When Alex first joined YZi Labs four years ago, the team was just five people, and the firm was still operating under the Binance Labs name before its rebrand in early 2025. In those early days, He has worked on Web3 investments and served as a mentor and judge for BNB Chain’s MVB accelerator across 10 seasons, directing investments into projects such as Avalon and Aspecta. More recently, he has been deeply involved in EASY Residency, YZi Labs’ flagship incubation program. “I’ve been around for half of YZi Labs’ and its ecosystem’s life,” Alex says. “And through three cycles for crypto.”

Alex was first drawn to YZi Labs for its mission and strategy, but he stayed because of the people. The leadership of CZ, Founder of YZi Labs, and Ella Zhang, Head of YZi Labs, makes him commit long-term. He recalls a moment in Lisbon in late 2022, when he arrived late to a team dinner hosted by CZ. With no seat left, CZ stood up, handed Alex his chair, and passed him his spot at the table. A simple gesture by CZ, but one Alex never forgot. “When you meet CZ, he makes sure you’re seen,” he says. “He takes time to talk to and understand the people around him.”

Conviction and grit are words Alex circles back to, especially when describing the bear market of 2022–2023. Those years thinned out the industry, but he stayed. By 2025, he began to sense a shift again. Ella had returned, bringing fresh energy and perspective and expanding the firm’s focus to AI and biotech beyond web3. Alex watched closely how Ella has built relationships with founders — honest, direct, and deeply supportive. “She knows how to communicate in a way that resonates,” he says. “It comes from her own experience building startups, and founders value that.”

Alex’s style as an investor revolves around fundamentals: taking the time to map industries, understand the landscape, and spot emerging trends before others do. He led YZi Labs into projects like Canton, Hemi, Concrete, Mysten Labs, Aptos, and more by staying close to themes he focuses on: DeFi maturing into sophisticated markets and functional financial products; RWA tokenization unlocking illiquid markets for institutional adoption; AI-crypto convergence, with decentralized agents redefining value creation; and stablecoin/infrastructure projects providing compliant, scalable rails. 

For founders who want to reach him, Alex keeps things straightforward. The best way is through his X @odagius, where DMs are open for pitches. Alex prefers memos rather than decks, something concise that covers the product, business model, team background, and fundraising needs. Memos are efficient for getting to the core of an idea, and what matters most is substance: a strong team, a solid product, and clear fundamentals. 

“Alex reflects the values we care most about at YZi Labs – resilience, conviction, and professionalism,” said Ella Zhang. “He has built trust with founders by showing up consistently, mentoring with honesty, and supporting bold ideas with patience. His promotion is not only recognition of his contributions, but also a reminder of the culture we want to preserve and carry forward at YZi Labs.”

About YZi Labs

YZi Labs manages over $10 billion in assets globally. Our investment philosophy emphasizes impact first—we believe that meaningful returns will naturally follow. We invest in ventures at every stage, prioritizing those with solid fundamentals in Web3, AI, and biotech. 

YZi Labs’ portfolio covers over 300 projects from over 25 countries across six continents. More than 65 of YZi Labs’ portfolio companies have gone through our incubation programs. For more information, follow YZi Labs on X.