Stefaan Vervaet is CEO and Founder of Akave, a decentralized cloud storage platform built on blockchain that serves enterprises and AI workloads. He previously co-built tech startups to exits totaling over $355 million in distributed storage and data management.

Stefaan worked at Protocol Labs as Head of Network Growth for Filecoin and attended Ghent University. He helped build DataCenter Technologies (acquired by Veritas) and Amplidata (acquired by Western Digital).

Stefaan led network growth for Filecoin, working directly with builders, storage providers, and partners to scale adoption. He is co-founder of SkyMapper, a decentralized astronomy network, and has 20 years of experience in enterprise data and storage management.

Akave raised $6.65 million from Protocol Labs, No Limit Holdings, Blockchange, Lightshift, Blockchain Builders Fund, Big Brain Holdings, Avalanche Foundation, and Filecoin Foundation in 2024. Early customers include Intuizi, LaserSETI, and 375ai for processing consumer intelligence, astronomical data, and AI training datasets.

Akave Cloud offers up to 80% savings versus AWS with predictable pricing, zero egress fees, and no hidden charges. The platform is the first enterprise-grade decentralized storage layer built on an Avalanche L1 with S3 compatibility.