Let’s talk

Crypto

Venture Capital

Staying Visible Through Crypto Winter: How SuperLayer Raised During the Bear Market

Project duration

2022-2023

Published date

Jun 2026

Navigation

Summary

About Salient PR

Salient is a B2B tech PR agency. We help startups become the story — landing tier-one coverage, building executive visibility, and turning attention into pipeline.

Senior team. No hand-offs. Radical transparency. If you’re ready to talk, reach out.

At a Glance

  • Engagement: 2 Years
  • Tier-One Placements: 15+
  • Key Wins: Fast Company, TechCrunch, CNBC, The Block
  • Podcasts: 5+

The Partnership 

SuperLayer is a Web3 venture studio backing the next generation of blockchain-powered companies. Salient PR partnered with the team from 2022-2023 to build visibility for the studio, its fund announcements, and its portfolio companies—right through crypto's worst downturn.

The Challenge 

FTX collapsed. Luna imploded. The NFT market cratered. Most Web3 companies went dark, waiting for the storm to pass. SuperLayer needed to do the opposite: raise a fund, launch portfolio companies, and position leadership as credible voices—while the entire industry was under a microscope.

The Strategy 

  • ‍Kept shipping when others went quiet: Fund announcements, portfolio launches, thought leadership. Consistent visibility signaled stability when the market rewarded silence.‍
  • Earned trust through bylines, not hype: TechCrunch op-ed on regulation. Cointelegraph predictions piece syndicated globally. Leadership positioned as builders, not speculators.‍
  • Built relationships that outlast cycles: Consensus dinner with Axios, TechCrunch, Fortune, CoinDesk, and Cointelegraph. The connections made during the bear market pay dividends in the bull.

The Results 

  1. ‍Fund coverage: $25M fund led by Polygon covered in The Block, CoinDesk, Crowdfund Insider. $5M Forte partnership in CoinDesk.‍
  2. Portfolio visibility: Fast Company feature on Outside's "anti-metaverse" Outerverse. KungFu Beasts in NFT Evening. Joyride and Taki in trade press.‍
  3. Thought leadership: CNBC (twice), Business Insider, VentureBeat, Cointelegraph, and five podcast appearances including The Metaverse Podcast and BlockTalk.

About Salient PR

Salient is a B2B tech PR agency. We help startups become the story — landing tier-one coverage, building executive visibility, and turning attention into pipeline.

Senior team. No hand-offs. Radical transparency. If you’re ready to talk, reach out.

Portrait of Tony Pham, a smiling man with short black hair wearing a black shirt and a dark striped cardigan, against a plain white background.

The strength of their media relationships, the creativity of their communications, and the strategic way they helped us position SuperLayer in the competitive landscape of crypto were impressive.

Portrait of Tony Pham, a smiling man with short black hair wearing a black shirt and a dark striped cardigan, against a plain white background.

Tony Pham

VP of Marketing, SuperLayer

More projects to explore

Futuristic metallic device with blue illuminated square window and valve-like wheel on a black background.

Brickeye

Brickeye came to us with a $10M Series B. We turned its story about automated water-damage prevention into an Engineering News-Record exclusive, connecting the technology to the builders’ risk challenges facing contractors, developers, and insurers.

Learn more

Brickeye

Brickeye came to us with a $10M Series B. We turned its story about automated water-damage prevention into an Engineering News-Record exclusive, connecting the technology to the builders’ risk challenges facing contractors, developers, and insurers.

Learn more
White weather monitoring device with sensors and antennas, designed for atmospheric data collection.

Arable

Arable came to us with zero customers. Since 2016, we’ve grown them from startup to global leader, featured in TIME, Quartz, and IEEE Spectrum. Today they partner with Google and the World Food Programme.

Learn more

Arable

Arable came to us with zero customers. Since 2016, we’ve grown them from startup to global leader, featured in TIME, Quartz, and IEEE Spectrum. Today they partner with Google and the World Food Programme.

Learn more
3D metallic and blue circular emblem with a stylized letter "K" and green glowing accents on a black background.

Kadena

In 2019, real business media wanted nothing to do with crypto. So we didn’t pitch Kadena as a crypto story — we pitched it as a Wall Street one: two JPMorgan execs who’d built the bank’s first blockchain. Forbes, Fortune, and Bloomberg TV followed.

Learn more

Kadena

In 2019, real business media wanted nothing to do with crypto. So we didn’t pitch Kadena as a crypto story — we pitched it as a Wall Street one: two JPMorgan execs who’d built the bank’s first blockchain. Forbes, Fortune, and Bloomberg TV followed.

Learn more
A close-up of a shiny metal carabiner with red clips securing a knotted rope. The rope is red and blue, creating a sense of strength and reliability.

BuildOps

BuildOps hit unicorn status. Then the Governor showed up. We put their CEO in Newsweek, then drove their Series C across TechCrunch and Reuters. Today, politicians cut ribbons at their expansions.

Learn more

BuildOps

BuildOps hit unicorn status. Then the Governor showed up. We put their CEO in Newsweek, then drove their Series C across TechCrunch and Reuters. Today, politicians cut ribbons at their expansions.

Learn more
Futuristic silver-and-blue presentation stage with three blank screens, a central podium, curved backdrop, and glowing circular platform.

Welcome

Welcome came to us one week from their Series A — no comms team, no agency, launching $12M into a category already owned by Hopin at a $5 billion valuation. We found the frame: the “Ritz-Carlton for event platforms.” In seven days, they went from unknown to TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Fortune — the same week.

Learn more

Welcome

Welcome came to us one week from their Series A — no comms team, no agency, launching $12M into a category already owned by Hopin at a $5 billion valuation. We found the frame: the “Ritz-Carlton for event platforms.” In seven days, they went from unknown to TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and Fortune — the same week.

Learn more
White curved ceiling-mounted sensor by Density, floating against a dark blue gradient background

Density

Density built privacy-first sensors that show how people actually use space — a brilliant answer with no urgent question, until COVID made every company desperate to know who was in the building. We made Density the answer: a $51M Series C across Forbes, TechCrunch, and Fortune, and the name journalists now call on the future of work.

Learn more

Density

Density built privacy-first sensors that show how people actually use space — a brilliant answer with no urgent question, until COVID made every company desperate to know who was in the building. We made Density the answer: a $51M Series C across Forbes, TechCrunch, and Fortune, and the name journalists now call on the future of work.

Learn more
Futuristic metallic device with blue illuminated square window and valve-like wheel on a black background.

Brickeye

We transformed a 45-second automatic shutoff that kept a jobsite from flooding into a powerful conservation story, connecting Brickeye’s technology to construction waste and water sustainability.

Learn more

Brickeye

We transformed a 45-second automatic shutoff that kept a jobsite from flooding into a powerful conservation story, connecting Brickeye’s technology to construction waste and water sustainability.

Learn more
Futuristic mosaic sculpture of a reclining leopard, made from green and silver tiles with pink metallic spheres, against a black background.

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs was building serious AI capabilities, but competitors owned the conversation. We turned original research, product launches, thought leadership, and rapid response into coverage across InfoQ, The Register, Ars Technica, SD Times, and SiliconANGLE.

Learn more

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs was building serious AI capabilities, but competitors owned the conversation. We turned original research, product launches, thought leadership, and rapid response into coverage across InfoQ, The Register, Ars Technica, SD Times, and SiliconANGLE.

Learn more
3D metallic silver letter "C" with green glass-like inner elements and three green ascending bars on top, against a black background.

CircleCI

Four years, three funding rounds, and three continents. We helped CircleCI grow from startup to category leader through product launches, funding announcements, thought leadership, and tier-one coverage.

Learn more

CircleCI

Four years, three funding rounds, and three continents. We helped CircleCI grow from startup to category leader through product launches, funding announcements, thought leadership, and tier-one coverage.

Learn more
Futuristic mosaic sculpture of a reclining leopard, made from green and silver tiles with pink metallic spheres, against a black background.

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs invented cloud-based software testing — but by the time they came to us, the category’s creator had gone invisible, out-covered by LambdaTest and BrowserStack. We rebuilt their entire media program from scratch. In twelve months they went from last to first in coverage, and today they’re the company Forbes profiles on cracking AI software testing.

Learn more

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs invented cloud-based software testing — but by the time they came to us, the category’s creator had gone invisible, out-covered by LambdaTest and BrowserStack. We rebuilt their entire media program from scratch. In twelve months they went from last to first in coverage, and today they’re the company Forbes profiles on cracking AI software testing.

Learn more
Futuristic silver coin with a bold raised “T” emblem, glowing blue inner ring, and ridged edge, floating against a black background.

TrueUSD

TrueUSD entered a market dominated by an opaque incumbent. During our 2018-2019 work, we positioned it around its real-time attestations—earning coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and The Economist as it became a top-five digital dollar at the time.

Learn more

TrueUSD

TrueUSD entered a market dominated by an opaque incumbent. During our 2018-2019 work, we positioned it around its real-time attestations—earning coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and The Economist as it became a top-five digital dollar at the time.

Learn more
Yellow and silver futuristic device with a screen showing a simple smiling face and small round holes below it.

Picslo

In late 2021, every social audio app was “the next Clubhouse.” We positioned Walkie-Talkie as the opposite — raw, anonymous, built for Gen Z, not Silicon Valley. A TechCrunch exclusive anchored the $3.25M seed, and within weeks the app hit #1 in social networking across seven countries.

Learn more

Picslo

In late 2021, every social audio app was “the next Clubhouse.” We positioned Walkie-Talkie as the opposite — raw, anonymous, built for Gen Z, not Silicon Valley. A TechCrunch exclusive anchored the $3.25M seed, and within weeks the app hit #1 in social networking across seven countries.

Learn more
Stylized alpaca portrait on a black background, split between woolly fur and a sleek cyborg face with glowing purple details.

Vanta

Vanta had quietly built the platform that automates security compliance — then Sequoia led their Series A and they needed to become the category in one moment. So we ran surgery, not volume: six placements averaging 92 domain authority, anchored by a Forbes exclusive that landed Vanta on Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups list.

Learn more

Vanta

Vanta had quietly built the platform that automates security compliance — then Sequoia led their Series A and they needed to become the category in one moment. So we ran surgery, not volume: six placements averaging 92 domain authority, anchored by a Forbes exclusive that landed Vanta on Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups list.

Learn more
Hexagonal futuristic planter with rows of small glowing green crystals embedded in soil, framed by metallic silver edges.

AgriERP

AgriERP had built its name in India’s farm sector but was invisible in America—no funding to announce, no launch, no news hook at all. In under 90 days, they had a mention in Forbes and a sponsored story in AgDaily, the trade press that sits on farm-office desks. Credibility, built from nothing.

Learn more

AgriERP

AgriERP had built its name in India’s farm sector but was invisible in America—no funding to announce, no launch, no news hook at all. In under 90 days, they had a mention in Forbes and a sponsored story in AgDaily, the trade press that sits on farm-office desks. Credibility, built from nothing.

Learn more
Metallic frame with two purple triangular shapes inside, one darker and one lighter, against a black background.

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor was profitable for a decade with 100,000+ customers, yet nearly unknown in the US. We turned that anonymity into the story and secured coverage in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat.

Learn more

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor was profitable for a decade with 100,000+ customers, yet nearly unknown in the US. We turned that anonymity into the story and secured coverage in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat.

Learn more

Ready to stop managing your agency?

Your turn
Tell us what you’re working on.

Tell us more about your company and PR needs so we can provide the best solution for your goals.

Continue

What is your company's primary sector?

Back

Continue

What is your total amount raised?

Back

Continue

What’s driving your PR need?

Back

Continue

What's your monthly budget for PR?

Our minimum monthly retainer is $10K

Back

Continue

What is your desired engagement length?

Our minimum engagement is 6 months

Back

Submit
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Thanks for your interest

Based on what you’ve shared, Salient isn’t the right fit right now.

We focus on venture-backed B2B technology companies at Series A or later with established PR budgets and a 6+ month timeline. If your situation changes, feel free to reach out.

To the main page