TRUE SIGNAL OVER NOISE
The noise is everywhere. The signal isn't. Independent, qualitative due diligence — on a single private technology company, or across a set of DeFi yield strategies — with no price targets and no recommendations. Just the defensible basis of conviction your committee needs.
Who it's for
Built for investors in two situations
01 — Capital, not analysts
You have the capital, not the in-house analysts.
Family offices, venture funds, and private banks face fast-moving private-tech opportunities — from AI to frontier infrastructure to crypto — but rarely keep specialists who can judge a company's architecture or the real dynamics of its market. We act as your dedicated due-diligence unit: on demand, one deal at a time.
02 — Experts, not hours
You have the experts, not the hours.
Funds and listing-review teams with strong internal benches still hit a time wall when a round is closing or a decision is due. We provide overflow research into the niches your team can't reach this week.
What you receive
One mandate. One report.
Decision-grade.
Each engagement delivers a Screening Brief and its supporting package — scoped with you before we begin.
Diligence Agenda
Diligence Agenda — one page. The questions that decide the investment, in priority order.
Screening Brief
Screening Brief — 3,000 to 4,000 words across the five pillars. Each section closes with three lines: what the evidence supports, the largest open question, and the finding that would change the decision.
Evidence Appendix
Evidence Appendix — every source with its date, and the evidence class assigned to each claim.
How it works
A scoped process, not an open-ended one
Scope
We agree a scope sheet — the target, the deliverables, and the turnaround — so expectations are fixed before work begins.
Materials
You share disclosable materials — data room, cap table, term sheet, or the relevant protocol documentation. The turnaround clock starts at the latest of three points: the scope sheet is confirmed, cleared funds are received, and the materials we need are in hand.
Delivery
You receive the Diligence Agenda, Screening Brief, and Evidence Appendix within the turnaround for the service you ordered.
Trust through restraint
What we don't do — by design
We are a research firm — not an advisor, and not an auditor. To protect the independence that makes our work usable inside a regulated investment process, every engagement explicitly excludes:
Price targets or valuations presented as forecasts.
Direct buy, sell, or hold recommendations — we do not provide investment advice.
Technical security audits, including smart-contract code review.
Prescribed allocations — our DeFi reports present option-scenarios, never a recommended portfolio weighting.
What you receive instead is a defensible, qualitative basis for your own decision.
Pricing
Pricing that clears a research budget, not a board meeting
| Service | Price | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Screening Brief — single name | $2,000 | 3 business days |
| Screening Brief — 3-report pack | $5,400 ($1,800 per report) | 3 business days per report |
| Screening Brief — 5-report pack | $8,000 ($1,600 per report) | 3 business days per report |
| Comparative Screening — 3 names | $3,000 | 5 business days |
| Comparative Screening — each additional name | +$500 | 6 names or more: 7 business days |
Payment in full before work begins, by bank transfer.
The turnaround clock starts at the latest of three points: the scope sheet is confirmed, cleared funds are received, and the materials we need are in hand.
Pack credits are valid for four months (3-report pack) and eight months (5-report pack) from the date of purchase, and apply to single-name Screening Briefs.
Price moves with scope. We adjust scope rather than price.
Comparative Screening
One report covering several names in the same category. Each name is run against the same set of structural gates and reported as a pass or a fail, with a one-line reason for each failure. The names that clear the gates are then ranked on a single axis. The per-name read is lighter than a single-name Screening Brief; the purpose is to decide what to drop.
See our work
See our standard before you commit
We publish the standard behind our work.
Our methodology sets out how we classify evidence and where those classifications appear in a report. Redacted sample reports are shared directly on request.
About / Founder
A practitioner's lens, not a textbook one
Orb Labs AG is a Swiss research firm based in Zug. Its work is led by Masa Nakatsu, a technology operator and investor active since 2013.
He founded Orb Inc in 2014, building one of the first linear-scalable, modular Layer-1 architectures; the company was acquired by SBI Holdings in 2018. He has since served as a lead mentor for Google's accelerator program and as Entrepreneur in Residence & Vice President at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. View career history on LinkedIn.
Orb Labs delivers independent research. We disclose any relevant interest in a covered company and decline engagements where independence cannot be maintained.
Insights
The macro lens behind the work
We don't run a content hub. The founder publishes an occasional macro letter on regime, liquidity, and where private-tech risk is mispriced — the same context that informs every engagement. It's the lightest possible on-ramp to a conversation.
Frequently asked
Is this investment advice? +
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How fast? +
Equity, token, or digital assets? +
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Start with one report
Tell us the company, the lens, and your timeline. We'll return a scope and a quote.