Aave Companies is an early pioneer of decentralized finance and web3 applications. Aave builds smart contract-enabled protocols, applications and tools that incorporate decentralized blockchain technologies and token-based economies. The Aave Companies focuses on developing technology based on blockchain with the purpose of increasing access to financial and social markets, empowering people and creating human connection. Aave is best known for creating the Aave Protocol, one of the most widely used decentralized liquidity protocols in the world. The protocol is fully governed by the Aave Community of AAVE token holders. The protocol allows users to supply and borrow cryptographic assets without third-party intermediaries. In October 2021, the Aave Protocol became one of the largest DeFi protocols with $19.28B in total value locked (TVL), an established metric used in DeFi, and a market size of $31.58B, including both supplied and borrowed assets. In 2022, Aave introduced a blockchain-based social media protocol, Lens Protocol. Lens is an open-source decentralized social media tech stack that enables users to own and manage their data and social profile, and developers to create social media applications and services.