Azeem Khan is a Co-founder and COO of Morph, a permissionless Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Layer 2 that combines optimistic and zero knowledge rollup technology to enable possibilities in finance, gaming, social media, and entertainment. ^[1][2][3]

Education

Azeem Khan attended Boston University School of Medicine, Division of Graduate Medical Sciences where he studied Medical Sciences in Biology. ^[2]

Career

Azeem started his career as a Research Assistant and Associate at Boston University School of Medicine and then at Havard Medical School until 2012. He co-founded Outlet, an Angel-backed startup in April 2013. He also co-founded Blasé and Polinate in 2016 and 2021 respectively. ^[2]

Azeem has also served as the Head of Partnerships at Aglet, a Venture Fellow at LDV Capital, the Judge of Build The Block at Binance, the Head of Impact at Gitcoin, a Venture Partner at Foresight Ventures, and a Consultant, UNICEF CryptoFund at UNICEF.^[2]

He also mentors at Consensys, HyperNest, and Crypto Packaged Goods. ^[2]

Morph

Azeem Khan was appointed as the Co-founder and COO of Morph in January 2024. Regarding his appointment, Azeem Khan expressed his vision for the company’s future:

“We’re now entering a stage where blockchain is creating scalable opportunities for mainstream adoption, moving beyond just the meme of reaching a billion users to making it a reality. With Morph, positioned at the crossroads of enabling this, we will leverage the resources available through the Bitget ecosystem and beyond.” ^[4]

Morph features its unique implementation of a decentralized sequencer and optimistic zkEVM technologies, ensuring robust security and performance in the blockchain space. This integration sets a new standard for Layer 2 solutions. By providing developers with advanced tools and technologies, Morph serves as a gateway to the future of practical blockchain applications. ^[1]

In this new role, Khan aims to establish Morph as a premier Layer 2 blockchain, onboard new users into the new web, and utilize the Bitget ecosystem to reinforce the platform. He also plans to give Web3 projects more global exposure, establish critical relationships and large deals with NGOs, governments, and for-profit companies, and facilitate the onboarding of Web2 organizations into the crypto ecosystem. ^[4]

In March 2024, Morph raised $20 Million in seed and angel funding. The seed round of $19 million was led by Dragonfly, with participation from Pantera Capital, Foresight Ventures, the Spartan Group, Symbolic Capital, and others. The angel round, worth $1 million, included participants such as Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal and Nansen's Alex Svanevik. Azeem Khan said,

“The existing L2 market is focused solely on short-term gains to be able to win the next casino round, rather than building for sustainable success. At Morph, we proudly help developers to create dApps that can truly make a long-term difference and win over a mainstream user base. Being one of the first to launch with a decentralized sequencer on Ethereum is also an example of our commitment to decentralization from the beginning.”^[5]

Azeem is also involved in the Future of Global Fintech Initiative, playing a key role in shaping the future of fintech on a global scale. The Giving Block, a non-profit aggregator, named him one of the “2023 Faces of Crypto Philanthropy”. ^[5]

Azeem wrote an article on CoinDesk in April 2024 for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to get funded in crypto.

"It’s really all about storytelling. Steve Jobs once famously said the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. He was right so tell that story. If you’re not able to articulate this then you need to go back to the drawing board because you’re likely not ready to raise funds. - he wrote^[6]

"If you are in a position to articulate this then it’s time to put together a simple pitch deck. In reality, most VCs spend a few minutes, at most, reading this document, oftentimes never reading it because they expect you to go through it when you pitch to them. Because this is the case you need to be able to keep it concise."^[6]