Which AI Agent projects have VCs invested in?

By: blockbeats|2025/01/10 03:00:02
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Original Article Title: "Which AI Agent Projects Have Received VC Support?"
Original Article Author: Fu Ruhao, Odaily Planet Daily

Over the past two months, the AI Agent sector has experienced rapid development, with projects represented by ai16z bringing considerable wealth returns to the market. At the same time, several well-known institutions have expressed optimism about the future integration of AI and crypto when predicting trends for 2025. Institutions such as DWF Ventures, a16z, and Messari have all identified AI+Crypto as a key direction for future development.

Unlike projects under traditional financing models, the explosion of the AI Agent sector initially took place on-chain in the form of memes. This characteristic has led to a significantly higher level of retail investor participation compared to VCs. This fair launch approach, as opposed to the previous projects' private fundraising, offers greater fairness and transparency, attracting the attention of many investors. However, despite the seemingly more equal and open market without VC involvement, can we assert that the absence of VCs is always a good thing?

In fact, in recent years, VC-invested projects have faced token price pressure due to factors such as token unlocks, leading to a decrease in VC attention, driven by the profit-seeking nature of capital and exit mechanisms. However, the role of VCs should not be underestimated, especially in the early stages of a project during due diligence. The in-depth due diligence by VCs can help investors filter out potential high-risk projects and avoid excessive blind investments. Furthermore, well-funded project teams are often able to focus more on technical innovation in the early stages and possess more professional and efficient capabilities in project promotion and later-stage operation, advantages that most on-chain meme projects cannot match.

Therefore, in summary, investment opportunities in the AI Agent sector are not limited to on-chain meme projects alone; the backing of VC funding also has its unique advantages. By taking stock of AI Agent concept projects that received first-hand market investment in the past six months, Odaily Planet Daily hopes to provide readers with diversified investment options. Whether it's a VC project or an on-chain meme project, as long as you can accurately grasp the trend, there are profit opportunities.

Coinbase Ventures and Visa Co-Invest — Payman

Payman is an artificial intelligence-to-user payment platform designed to provide AI with payment capabilities so that it can pay users for tasks such as marketing. The platform supports fiat currency and USDC stablecoin payments, offering a convenient fund flow channel for interactions between AI and users.

Core Features:

· Seamless Integration: Payman's API allows users to provide funds to AI in seconds and start task execution.

· Powerful Dashboard: The platform features built-in expenditure control to help manage AI budgets and monitor AI spending through precise task tracking.

· Flexible Task Assignment: AI can easily assign tasks to human users needing to complete the tasks or publish tasks to the platform's marketplace.

Platform Highlights:

· Human Marketplace: Payman provides an exclusive marketplace for artificial intelligence to find users to complete tasks it cannot independently perform or needs assistance with in certain areas.

· Multiple Payment Methods: Whether artificial intelligence chooses to use fiat currency, cryptocurrency, or pay users through bank accounts, Payman provides support to ensure a convenient and secure payment process.

Payman enables artificial intelligence to pay users for task completion, with the following specific steps:

· Add Funds to AI Wallet: First, log in to the platform, create an AI agent, and top up its wallet.

· Integrate Payman API into AI: By integrating Payman's API, provide funds to AI and start using the platform.

· AI Task Publication: The AI agent publishes tasks to the marketplace, inviting users to participate and complete tasks.

· Webhooks Notify Task Completion: Payman's provided Webhooks will notify the AI agent upon task completion, aiding in task optimization and execution.

Payman has diverse applications. For example, in product management, an AI agent can optimize product development by paying users for feedback; in the interview process, AI can pay candidates to complete tasks and analyze results to enhance recruitment efficiency; in marketing and growth, AI can not only formulate marketing strategies but also pay influencers to perform tasks, thereby expanding brand influence; in engineering, AI can pay experts to review code, ensuring its accuracy and efficiency. Through these applications, Payman injects new energy into various industries, driving deep collaboration between AI and users.

Payman announced completion of a $3 million pre-seed funding round on August 8 last year, with investors including Visa, Coinbase Ventures, and The Spartan Group, among other well-known venture capital firms. The project was selected for Binance Labs' MVB Accelerator Program as early as July last year. Payman's co-founder Tyllen Bicakcic previously held developer relations roles at the Uniswap Foundation and Flow blockchain.

Coinbase Ventures and a16z Co-invest in Skyfire

Skyfire is an innovative payment solution designed for the AI economy, aiming to provide a global instant, open payment system for AI agents, supporting fully autonomous transactions across AI agents, Language Learning Models (LLMs), data platforms, service providers, and other goods and services. All transactions will be conducted using the stablecoin USDC to ensure transaction stability and liquidity.

Skyfire's payment network can connect AI agents and service providers globally, allowing AI agents to autonomously transact efficiently, enjoying digital services from data analytics to content creation, to complex decision-making and problem-solving. Unlike traditional payment systems, Skyfire eliminates human intermediaries, enabling AI agents to transact without human intervention, significantly enhancing efficiency and automation.

In August last year, Skyfire completed an $8.5 million seed funding round with participation from prominent institutions such as Circle, Ripple, and Gemini, and later received a $1 million strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures and a16z CSX, bringing the total funding to $9.5 million. a16z Crypto announced that its 2024 fall crypto startup accelerator program will launch in New York City, and Skyfire was one of the 21 startups selected for this batch.

Skyfire's payment network operates based on the USDC stablecoin and has received public support from Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder, and CEO of Circle. Skyfire is currently deployed on the Polygon network and plans to expand to other public chains in the future.

Founded by a former Ripple executive, Skyfire's Co-founder and CEO Amir Sarhangi stated that traditional payment systems cannot meet the needs of AI agents, while cryptocurrencies and blockchain provide an ideal solution—offering round-the-clock microtransactions, efficient, and low-cost transaction services. Skyfire's team has already collaborated with several clients, including a parts manufacturer for an Indian automotive service center and an AI infrastructure provider, and is in talks with multiple large-scale Language Learning Models (LLMs) to adopt its USDC-based AI agent payment solution.

CMT Digital Leads Investment in Axal

Axal focuses on building a verifiable autonomous intelligent agent network designed to enable intelligent agents to perform various tasks. From complex trading strategies to community interactions, users only need to define their requirements through simple natural language or programming interfaces, and Axal takes care of agent sourcing, bidding auctions, and payment processing.

Axal has completed a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round led by CMT Digital, with other supporters including a16z Crypto Startup School, Escape Velocity, IDG Vietnam, Artichoke Capital, Trident Digital, Blockchain Builders Fund, Blockhunters Group, Echo, Mentat Group, and many institutional and angel investors.

Axal has also launched its first product—Axal Autopilot, which is an intelligent agent-driven trading automation platform designed to help cryptocurrency holders create personalized trading strategies. The platform offers features such as price tracking, on-chain transaction execution, and yield management, allowing users to more efficiently manage their crypto assets.

Hack VC Leads Investment in Theoriq

Theoriq is a modular, composable AI agent infrastructure layer that provides robust support for machine learning and related complex data-driven computations, aiming to apply machine learning to DeFi, gaming, social, and data infrastructure, among other areas.

Theoriq was founded in 2022. One of Theoriq's core services is to build a marketplace for AI agents and resources and, through its forum called Infinity Hub, allow autonomous AI agents to interact and collaborate with each other, enhancing their capabilities and productivity when performing certain tasks. The platform encourages agents to collaborate by sharing their expertise, similar to specialization in a global economy, to achieve more efficient task completion.

The Theoriq platform has created a reward system for AI agents, comprising two key concepts:

· Proof of Contribution: Agents receive rewards for the useful work they have done.

· Proof of Collaboration: Agents receive rewards for collaborating with other agents on tasks.

These agents are able to access data, computation, digital assets, and physical assets, and can perform on-chain payments and receipts. Theoriq also plans to launch a no-code development tool that allows users to build their own professional agents without a technical background. The applications of these agents are wide-ranging, with the latest release version Claude enhancing computing performance, significantly improving the functionality of AI agents.

Moreover, the platform has established a governance mechanism for malicious agents, evaluating agents through a ranking system, allowing users to assess their value based on agent performance. Users can also support agents through agent staking and provide feedback to help further optimize the agents.

Theoriq has received over $10 million in funding from companies such as Hack VC, Foresight Ventures, and HTX Ventures. Recently, the platform has also launched an incentive testnet, with the mainnet expected to go live soon.

Polychain Capital Leads Investment — Talus Network

Talus Network is a high-throughput blockchain platform designed for decentralized AI agents, aiming to provide autonomous execution and management capabilities for AI agents in multiple domains (such as DeFi, gaming, DAOs, etc.). The Talus Network adopts the Sui Move programming language and MoveVM for blockchain infrastructure. The technology stack of Talus Network includes the Nexus Agent Framework, Python SDK, and off-chain services, all of which are designed to provide developers with flexibility, performance, and security to support them in building decentralized AI solutions.

The Talus Network aims to provide users with an infrastructure to create and deploy AI agents. These intelligent agents can optimize liquidity strategies in DeFi and act as automated resource collection agents in games, helping players or guilds improve efficiency.

Talus Network announced the completion of a $6 million funding round on November 26 last year, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Foresight Ventures, Animoca, and other companies, bringing the platform's valuation to $1.5 billion post-funding. This funding round will be used to further develop the Talus ecosystem, including Protochain, the Nexus framework, and the development of the "AI dating experience" application.

Prior to this, Talus had completed a $3 million seed funding round in February 2023, also led by Polychain Capital.

The Talus Agent has the ability to autonomously manage smart contracts and can perform tasks in various domains, such as portfolio optimization and MEV protection in DeFi, financial management and allocation in DAOs, automated NPC management and testing in games. The Talus Agent will become an asset on the blockchain that users can collectively own and monetize, facilitating the tokenization of decentralized AI agents.

In addition, the Talus Network has also launched an interactive blockchain application called AI Bae, which is an app that provides an "AI dating experience." Users can interact with AI companions called "Baes," generate unique Baes by connecting their TikTok accounts, and the app offers real-time chats, Polymarket-style betting features, and meme-token elements, allowing users to bet on the outcome of dates and even turn Baes into tokens.

Original Article Link

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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'

Original Title: "Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Genius Act'"Original Author: 0xTodd, Partner at Nothing Research


If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.



Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."


The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:


· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.


· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.


· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.


· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.


· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.


· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.


After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.


Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"


In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.


First, Clearing Concerns is a Prerequisite


Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.


In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.


They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.


Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.


In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.


【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.


Second, Mastering the Standard is Very Important


Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.


When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.


If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.


The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.


And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).


Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.


Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.


And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?


That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.


In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.


As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.



EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:


· Social Account Registration Wallet

· Paying GAS with Native Coin

· And more


This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.


Third, Deposit Enters a New Era


Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.


Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.



Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:


Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.


And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?


Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.


Fourth, Conclusion


As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.


And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.


Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.


Original Article Link

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May 14 On-chain Fund Flow


Within 24 hours, GOONC's market cap soared to 70 million, could GOONC be the next billion-dollar dog on the Believe platform?

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The current market is in a state of macro euphoria, with GOONC riding the wave today, skyrocketing 10x in just a few hours, reaching a market cap of tens of millions of dollars, trading volume soaring past 50 million, and rumors swirling that the developer may be from OpenAI (unconfirmed but intriguing enough).


The "gooning" Culture in Forums


A ludicrous and absurd Solana meme that some actually buy into.


GOONC is a meme coin that has sprouted from the "gooning" subculture, offering no technological innovation or practical use, its sole function being speculation.


It takes inspiration from an NSFW term "gooning," which refers to a person being deeply immersed in certain content (you know what), eventually entering a nearly religious-like trance.


In Reddit (such as r/GOONED, r/GoonCaves) and some counterculture media outlets (such as MEL Magazine in 2020), "gooning" has gradually transitioned from an adult label to a meme-addicted, digital content and virtual self-indulgence synonym, arguably the epitome of Degen spirit.


GOONC is playing around with this concept, packaging the addictive nature, uselessness, and irony of gooning into a tradable financial product. The project team has made it clear: "We do not solve blockchain problems, we only trade absurdity." Blunt but oddly genuine.


GOONC launched on May 13, 2025, using the meme coin launch platform Believe App's LaunchCoin module on Solana. This tool is highly Degen: zero technical barriers, a few clicks to create a coin, perfect for projects like GOONC that can come up with ideas out of the blue.



The mastermind behind GOONC is also quite something and is the most talked-about, with KOL @basedalexandoor on X platform (alias "Pata van Goon") personally involved. His profile even caught the attention of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, making onlookers unable to resist speculating if GOONC has a hint of OpenAI lineage.



While this 'OpenAI Endorsement' is currently just community speculation, it is definitely a good card to play to fuel hype. Saying "we are pure speculation" on one hand, while tagging a few "AI + a16z" on the other.


From Wasteland to Moon in One Night


GOONC took off as soon as it launched. After its launch on May 13, 2025, its market capitalization skyrocketed to $22 million within 4 hours, with a trading volume exceeding $25.6 million in 24 hours. According to platform data, the first day of trading saw an astonishing +41,100% surge, soaring from $0.0000001 to $0.02, becoming a "missed-the-boat" situation.


GOONC quickly formed an active trading community post-launch, with a lot of discussion and trading signals appearing on X platform (such as the 292x return signal provided by DeBot). Liquidity pools on exchanges like Raydium and Meteora grew rapidly, supporting high trading volumes and price increases.


The real climax occurred between May 13 and May 14, with the market cap rising to $5.5 million in the morning and directly surpassing $55 million in the afternoon. By the 14th, it briefly approached a $70 million market cap, with the trading volume soaring to $59 million. Some community members even posted screenshots claiming an increase of +85,000%, creating a new myth out of the ruins.


As of 1:30 pm on May 14, the price stabilized around $0.039, with a total market cap and FDV both around $39.6 million, and a 24-hour trading volume of $5.43 million. Active platforms include XT.COM, LBank, Meteora, and others.


Although there was a slight pullback from the peak ($0.07), the coin's popularity remains strong. For a coin that relies purely on "irony + community + X post" to thrive, this performance is already at a stellar level.



Currently, the background of the token's development team is not transparent, increasing the potential risk of a rug pull. Rugcheck.xyz warns that the creator of the GOONC contract may have permission to modify the contract (e.g., change fees or mint additional tokens), posing certain security risks.


Community members speculate that the meteoric rise of GOONC may be the "last hurrah".


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