Several of the lead architects behind the Tezos project have formed a new research and development company called Nomadic Labs. The move comes as the Tezos Mainnet has been running successfully since Sept. 17, and the network has operated without major issue while baking has continued to mature.

The new company consists of Benjamin Canou, Grégoire Henry, and Pierre Chambart, all originally part of OCamlPro, the world’s leading OCaml development shop and lead-architects for Tezos protocol development over the past year. In addition to the three mentioned, Nomadic Labs has grown to over 30 permanent developers all focused on research and development of the Tezos protocol.

In addition to software development, Nomadic Labs will also be involved with hosting community events.

The Tezos Foundation called the announcement “big news” and said, “It speaks to the top-notch talent that is coming together to focus on Tezos.”

Focused Tezos Development

According to the release, the new team will be focused “on contributing to the development of the Tezos core software, including the smart-contract language, Michelson.”

In addition to core protocol research and development, the team will also continue to work on expanding the Cortez mobile wallet for Tezos.



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The team also includes release manager Pierre Boutillier, who has many connections into the Tezos baking community.

OCamlPro’s Deep Tezos Ties

According to a recent interview with Fabrice Le Fessant, OCamlPro Founder, the company has been deeply involved with Tezos development for several years.

As Le Fessant explains, Arthur Breitman, Tezos Founder, contacted OCamlPro in 2014 with some ideas on creating a new blockchain. OCamlPro helped with every step of the process from turning ideas into specifications, implementing prototypes, working in six-month iterations.

Eventually, according to Le Fessant, in early 2017, most of the company was focused entirely on Tezos and helped develop the infrastructure used by the Tezos Foundation to carry out the original ICO fundraiser.

It would be later in 2017 when OCamlPro decided to put more effort into critical Tezos infrastructure, such as the block explorer TZscan, to help ensure the long-term success of the project.

The trio of architects founding Nomadic Labs, Canou, Henry, and Chambart, were all instrumental in the success of the Tezos project and have shepherded it through difficult times in late 2017 and early 2018 as far as core development is concerned.

Tezos Foundation Continues Development Expansion

With the announcement of this new venture, and the Tezos Foundation’s ongoing commitment to fund and foster Tezos development around the world, 2019 looks bright for the project in terms of adoption and deepening the talent pool of OCaml programmers.

The Foundation announced in early October an effort to train 1,000 new Tezos=focused software developers in 2019. To accomplish this goal, according to the Foundation, grants will be issued to “organizations that have a proven ability to train developers effectively,” and will “will support the creation of Tezos online tutorials, training materials and documentation, course preparations, and other tools.”