Ava Labs launched Avalanche in 2020. Ava Labs claims it is a "world-class group of experts in computer science and economics as well as finance and law." The team is located in New York City and Miami and includes notable blockchain, tech, and finance companies such as Consensys, Morgan Stanley, and Google. Emin Gun Sier is the founder and CEO of Ava Labs. He was previously an associate professor at Cornell University. John Wu is the President and Kevin Sekniqi is the COO.