Forward the original title: Annual Review 2024 | Crypto VC AI Investment Landscape: Which Projects Did Top VCs Like a16z, Binance, and Coinbase Back?

In the past two months, the explosive growth of Agentfi has once again highlighted the immense potential of the “AI+Crypto” (also known as crypto AI) fusion. In the 2025 crypto industry trend forecast recently released, renowned industry institutions such as a16z partners, Messari, and Blockworks all mentioned that the combination of “AI and Crypto” will be a mainstream focus in the 2025 crypto market. The intersection of crypto technology and AI is expected to make groundbreaking advancements, leading to the rise of many AI-driven token projects.

Looking back at 2024, the crypto AI market witnessed an unparalleled influx of investments, with numerous investment institutions pouring in and funding amounts soaring. Leading venture capital firms in the crypto space, such as Grayscale, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, and a16z, have all actively engaged in “Crypto+AI” project investments.

In particular, institutions like Delphi Venture, CoinFund, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, and a16z have expressed strong support and actively demonstrated their commitment by making multiple investments, reflecting their deep belief in the crypto AI field.

The 2025 Crypto Outlook Report released by Messari on December 24 shows that crypto AI was the most noteworthy emerging investment theme of 2024, with the total funding in this field achieving a nearly 100% year-on-year growth, and the number of funding rounds increasing by 138%. This article will provide a comprehensive overview of how top crypto VCs positioned themselves in the Crypto+AI space in 2024, along with the fundamentals of the specific projects they invested in.

Grayscale, Delphi, Coinbase, Binance Labs, and Other Crypto Investment Firms Have Made Moves in the “Crypto+AI” Space

As the driving force behind industry progress and the capture of frontier projects, capital flows and public investment activities are always regarded as key indicators of market trends. In 2024, the crypto AI market has also witnessed a surge in investments, with major investment institutions flocking in and an unprecedented enthusiasm for investing in crypto AI projects, leading to a sharp rise in investment amounts.

Many of the industry’s top crypto venture capital firms, including Grayscale, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, and a16z, have publicly announced their active involvement in investing in and strategically positioning themselves in the “Crypto+AI” space.

At the beginning of this year (January), Tommy, co-founder of Delphi Digital, publicly expressed on social media platform X that he was highly optimistic about the combination of Crypto and AI, and encouraged relevant project developers to reach out to him. He also revealed that Delphi Ventures had invested in several cryptocurrency AI projects, including the decentralized GPU project io.net, AI blockchain OG Labs, and the AI venture fund Mythos Ventures. In October, Delphi Labs, the research and development arm of Delphi Ventures, also partnered with the NEAR Foundation to launch an AI accelerator, aiming to promote the development of AI and Web3 cross-domain projects.

a16z Crypto, the venture capital fund established by a16z specifically for the crypto space, is often considered an industry bellwether. Its executives repeatedly stated their support for the integration of crypto and AI projects. As early as March, media reports indicated that a16z was raising a new $6 billion fund, with a focus on AI investments. Of this, 15% was planned to be allocated to the development of AI infrastructure and applications. In the 21 projects selected for the a16z Crypto Fall Crypto Startup Accelerator (a16z CSX) announced in September, 5 were related to crypto AI, including Skyfire, decentralized AI network OpenGradient, GPU project Kuzco, blockchain AI solution for enterprises Banyan, and PIN AI. The highly popular GOAT (truth_terminal) project, among others, also received backing from a16z crypto partners.

In the second half of the year, more crypto venture capital firms announced their entry into the crypto AI field, with some establishing dedicated AI funds and others increasing investments in crypto AI projects.

On June 19, Pantera Capital announced it was raising a $1 billion new fund, with over $200 million allocated to invest in AI-related projects. The fund’s investment manager, Cosmo Jiang, stated that within the next 10 to 20 years, all crypto companies would become AI companies, and Pantera Capital had already allocated 15% to 20% of its capital in its early funds to AI-related blockchain projects.

In August, Grayscale launched a decentralized AI-focused trust fund, the “Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund,” primarily investing in tokens of AI-related projects. The initial projects included Bittensor (TAO), Filecoin (FIL), Livepeer (LPT), Near (NEAR), and Render (RNDR), with quarterly adjustments based on portfolio holdings. As of December 23, the Grayscale AI Fund’s holdings included Bittensor (TAO), Filecoin (FIL), Near (NEAR), Render (RNDR), and The Graph (GRT), with total assets under management valued at approximately $1.5 million.

In August, Max Coniglio, the investment director of Binance Labs, publicly outlined the firm’s recent strategic focus: promoting the development of AI-driven decentralized applications (DApps). Binance Labs has consecutively invested in decentralized AI networks such as Sahara AI and the AI robotics platform MyShell. Coniglio believes that the combination of AI and blockchain is a formidable force, and if the two can collaborate towards open-source protocols, they will usher in a prosperous new era. In a recent interview, Binance co-founder He Yi also expressed her views on the integration of AI and crypto, stating that AI technology is triggering a productivity revolution, with far-reaching effects beyond imagination. While blockchain primarily transforms labor relations and the distribution of benefits, AI is a revolutionary technology that directly enhances user productivity.

In October, Coinbase Ventures also released a statement indicating that its investment strategy had shifted from solely focusing on cryptocurrency investments to making deep, strategic moves in the “Crypto+AI” space. Hoolie Tejwani, the firm’s head, pointed out the natural complementarity between crypto technology and AI, likening the relationship between the two to the double helix structure of DNA, closely intertwined to lay a solid foundation for the digital future. In fact, as early as August, Coinbase Ventures had participated in investments in the AI Agent payment projects Skyfire and Payman.

This collective optimism from major crypto venture capital firms regarding the crypto AI space undoubtedly sends a strong signal: in future market cycles, venture capital firms will make large-scale and long-term investments and strategic bets in the crypto AI sector.

According to Messari’s Q3 2024 Crypto Investment Report, over $213 million was injected into AI projects by crypto venture capital firms during the quarter. This represents a 250% quarter-on-quarter growth and a staggering 340% year-on-year increase.

In addition, a clear trend emerged in Messari’s 2025 Crypto Outlook Report released on December 24: investors are becoming increasingly interested in the intersection of crypto and AI, with crypto AI emerging as the most dazzling new investment theme of 2024. This sector saw its total funding amount grow by nearly 100% year-on-year, with funding rounds also increasing by 138%. Notably, renowned Web3 accelerators like a16z CSX and Beacon featured numerous crypto AI projects in their selected lists. This data suggests that more and more venture capital firms are entering this emerging field, and the influx of capital will undoubtedly accelerate the rise of the crypto AI sector.

Crypto Institutions’ AI Investment Strategies: A Preference for Decentralized AI Infrastructure and Application Products

According to investment data for 2024 compiled by Rootdata, prominent crypto venture capital firms such as a16z, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, Hack VC, and Polychain have participated in several crypto AI projects. Notably, Coinbase Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Binance Labs, and Hack VC have been particularly active, making multiple investments that demonstrate their strong confidence in the sector.

Starting in August, Coinbase Ventures significantly increased its investment in crypto AI projects, including two AI Agent payment infrastructure projects, Payman and Skyfire. Binance Labs and a16z Crypto, on the other hand, have been involved in multiple early-stage projects through both direct investments and accelerator programs.

As Binance’s venture and incubation arm, Binance Labs has built a reputation for identifying early-stage projects that are often seen as potential future listing opportunities in the crypto community. According to 2024 data on crypto AI investments, Binance Labs follows a strategy where projects first join the MVB incubator and then receive further investment. Projects such as NFPrompt (NFP) and MyShell, which were incubated in MVB, are examples of AI application products that Binance Labs has backed.

a16z Crypto, the crypto-focused fund of a16z, has a long history of AI investments, having participated in funding rounds for AI giants like OpenAI, AI chatbot Character.AI, and AI pharmaceutical company Genesis Therapeutics. However, according to Rootdata’s 2024 figures, a16z Crypto has not made many direct investments in crypto AI projects. The disclosed projects include the AI Agent development network Axal and the AI virtual human creation platform Balance.fun, with Axal also being one of the projects supported by the a16z CSX accelerator. a16z Crypto is more focused on participating through the a16z CSX incubator. Of the 21 projects selected for the a16z Crypto Fall Crypto Startup Accelerator (a16z CSX) announced in September, 5 were related to crypto AI, including Skyfire, decentralized AI network OpenGradient, GPU project Kuzco, blockchain AI solution for enterprises Banyan, and PIN AI.

In its recent 2025 Trend Outlook, a16z emphasized that the intersection of crypto and AI will be a focal point in the coming year, particularly noting its optimism for the development of crypto AI Agents. a16z believes that AI Agents could have and manage their own wallets, perform on-chain transactions such as node validation, and function as truly autonomous AI chatbots, rather than being human-controlled. These AI Agents could also potentially enable self-verification and other autonomous features.

ChainCatcher’s analysis of the projects backed by venture capital firms in 2024 reveals that most of the investments were in AI infrastructure and application products. Polychain, Pantera Capital, and other firms tend to favor investing in AI infrastructure, such as decentralized AI networks, tokenized GPUs, and AI data. Meanwhile, Hack VC and Binance Labs lean more toward AI application products.

Coinbase, a16z, and Other VCs’ 2024 Crypto AI Project Portfolio

Coinbase Ventures’ 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio

1. AI Agent payment tool Payman

Payman is an AI agent payment solution built specifically for AI models and developers, launched in May this year. It aims to create a payment infrastructure for collaboration between AI and humans. Developers can integrate Payman’s payment API to enable AI agents to autonomously process transactions between AI and human parties. Whether it’s AI developers paying for human assistance or humans receiving compensation for collaborating with AI, Payman automates the payment process through its API.

The core advantage of Payman is its comprehensive AI agent payment system, which autonomously and intelligently handles all payment processes, significantly reducing operational complexity. Payman supports both fiat and cryptocurrency payments, such as USDC.

On August 8, Payman completed a $3 million pre-seed funding round, with notable investors including Visa, Coinbase Ventures, and The Spartan Group. Additionally, the project was selected for Binance Labs’ MVB Accelerator program in July.

Coinbase Ventures’ support for Payman is not limited to financial backing, as they have also publicly endorsed the project. During the Devcon2024 event in November, Payman collaborated with the virtual idol from South Korean entertainment giant HYBE to demonstrate how to use USDC to enable seamless payments between AI and humans.

Notably, Payman’s co-founder Tyllen Bicakcic previously held key roles in developer relations at the Uniswap Foundation and Flow blockchain.

2. AI Agent Payment System Skyfire: The “Visa” of AI

Skyfire, also backed by Coinbase Ventures, is an AI agent payment solution founded by former Ripple executives in June this year. It provides a complete and independent transaction process for AI agents, enabling them to autonomously perform tasks such as purchasing goods or completing specified tasks without human intervention.

While AI agents are expected to handle tasks like shopping, ticket booking, route planning, and app listing, they typically cannot manage the final payment process, such as paying bills, booking flights, or settling hosting fees. Skyfire addresses this issue by building a cryptocurrency payment system that allows AI agents to autonomously perform financial transactions such as receiving and making payments without human intervention. For example, when a user provides funds to an AI agent, it can autonomously use those funds to fulfill the user’s needs—without manual involvement—just as a human assistant might use cash or a credit card to buy coffee. Therefore, Skyfire is often referred to as the “Visa” of AI, enabling AI agents to autonomously handle payments, receipts, and savings.

Skyfire has also performed well in fundraising, securing substantial support from several leading crypto capital firms. In August, it raised $8.5 million in a seed round, with investments from Circle, Ripple, Gemini, and other major firms. In September, Skyfire was selected for the a16z Fall CSX Accelerator. In October, Coinbase Ventures and a16z Crypto CSX injected $1 million in strategic funding into the project.

As of December 21, Skyfire’s total public fundraising reached $9.5 million.

3. Decentralized AI Data Network Vana

Vana is a decentralized data network designed to allow users to tokenize and trade their personal data and AI models. Originating from a research project at MIT in 2018, the project aims to create a user-owned data pool network, enabling users to truly own and control their data, build AI models, and decide how their data is used while receiving economic rewards for sharing it.

Vana provides a decentralized data marketplace where users can control their social data via smart contracts. Whenever their data is used, users automatically receive rewards. For instance, users can share high-quality data generated on platforms like Google and Reddit with AI developers for model training and earn revenue. This model helps solve the problem of data scarcity for AI model training and creates a new revenue stream for users based on their own data.

On September 18, Vana announced it had completed a $5 million strategic funding round led by Coinbase Ventures. In April of this year, Vana revealed that it had raised $18 million in Series A funding in October 2022, led by Paradigm, which was previously undisclosed. Vana’s total funding to date stands at $20 million.

As of December 21, Vana’s cumulative funding reached $25 million.

On December 13, Vana (VANA) launched on Binance Launchpool.

4. Decentralized AI Network OpenGradient

OpenGradient is focused on creating a decentralized AI network that enables developers to create, distribute, and deploy AI models and applications in an open, permissionless manner. OpenGradient not only provides developers with tools for AI development but also facilitates the seamless and secure integration of AI workflows into Web3 applications. It allows for decentralized and universal access to AI models.

Currently, OpenGradient is building an EVM-compatible blockchain network that allows developers to deploy AI models using Solidity smart contracts. It is considered the “HuggingFace” of the Web3 world, as HuggingFace is an open-source model library supporting users in sharing various machine learning models and is often referred to as the “GitHub of AI developers.”

In September of this year, OpenGradient was one of the 21 selected companies in the a16z Crypto Fall Startup Accelerator (CSX).

On October 10, OpenGradient announced the completion of a $8.5 million seed round, with investment from a16z CSX, Foresight Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Symbolic Capital, and others.

5. Decentralized AI Model Factory Pond

Pond is building a decentralized AI model network that enables any user to easily create their own AI models and tokenize them to earn rewards, earning the title of “Decentralized AI Model Factory.”

In the Web2 world, platforms like Kaggle offer data modeling and analytics competitions where developers compete to build the best AI models. However, creators do not have ownership of the final model. Pond aims to address this issue by providing developers with the necessary infrastructure and data to create AI models as well as allowing creators to own, control, and tokenize their AI models. It is seen as the “Web3 version of Kaggle.”

Unlike most projects based on large language models (LLMs), Pond operates on a large Graph Neural Network (GNN) to perform real-time statistics and predictions on on-chain data. Compared to LLMs, GNNs are better at processing and generating information, excelling in discovering relationships between data points and extracting valuable insights. Pond leverages native on-chain data from the crypto industry and utilizes techniques like GNNs to learn from and predict on-chain behaviors. This predictive capability has led to new business logic, such as token price forecasting, AI-enhanced MEV (Maximum Extractable Value), and DeFi strategies.

On November 7, Pond announced the completion of a $7.5 million seed round, with investments from Archetype, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and others.

a16z Crypto and a16z CSX Accelerator’s 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio:

1. AI Agent Development Network: Axal

Axal is dedicated to building a verifiable AI agent development network for any task. It provides users with a complete set of tools to create their AI agent intelligent systems by stating their intentions.

In October, Axal announced the completion of a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round, led by CMT Digital, with other participants including a16z Crypto Startup School, Escape Velocity, IDG Vietnam, and Artichoke Capital.

Simultaneously, Axal launched its flagship product, Axal Autopilot, an AI agent-driven trading automation platform that offers users personalized trading strategies, including price tracking, on-chain transaction execution, and yield management.

2. AI Virtual Human Creation Platform: Balance.fun (EPAL)

Balance was originally launched by the E-PAL gaming platform in February as a Web3 experience infrastructure. It aims to provide a smooth Web2-to-Web3 transition. The platform introduced an AI-driven system as a core element, allowing users to create personalized AI companions that can engage in gaming, learning, entertainment, and even productivity tasks, adapting to individual preferences, behaviours, and needs.

In September, E-PAL disclosed it had completed two rounds of financing led by a16z and Galaxy Interactive, raising a total of $30 million. In November, Balance.fun announced that it had raised over $10 million through early node sales, with participating institutions including Animoca Brands, Amber Group, and GSR Markets.

Currently, Balance.fun is conducting node sales, with each node priced at $599. According to its roadmap, the platform plans to issue the token ETP in January 2025.

3. Decentralized Personal AI Network Infrastructure: PIN.AI

PIN AI aims to establish an open AI network that offers unrestricted access to vast contextual data, empowering AI developers to create a diverse array of practical personal AI applications. AI model inference is typically constrained by the input data, and much of this data is stored on users’ private devices, such as smartphones and computers, due to privacy concerns. PIN AI seeks to unlock this personal data, enabling the development of customized AI applications that assist users in tackling everyday tasks like shopping, planning trips, and managing finances.

eThe main goal of the PIN protocol is to establish an open ecosystem for personal AI applications. It has three foundational layers: Personal Data (focusing on privacy and data ownership), Personal AI (trusted AI companions on private devices), and External AI (an open market for AI services).

This ecosystem allows AI applications to access user context data and match user intent with specialized external AIs, while always protecting user privacy.

On September 10, PIN AI announced the completion of a $10 million pre-seed funding round, with participation from a16z CSX, Hack VC, and the Blockchain Builders Fund (Stanford Blockchain Accelerator).

Binance Labs’ 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio:

1. AI Content Creation Platform: NFPrompt (NFP)

NFPrompt (NFP) is an AI-powered NFT content generation platform that enables creators to generate AI-driven content such as images, videos, PFPs, and music. Users can easily create stunning works by providing prompts, and generate NFTs with a single click to confirm ownership. The project was selected for Binance Labs’ Season 6 Incubation Program in September 2023, with its token NFP launched on Binance in December 2023. In March 2024, NFPrompt announced it had received investment from Binance Labs.

2. Decentralized AI Data Network: Privasea

Privasea, formerly known as Nulink, focuses on privacy-preserving data computation. It was selected for Binance Labs’ Season 4 Incubation Program in May 2022 and now offers solutions to AI data privacy and security. Privasea’s ImHuman identity verification protocol functions similarly to WorldCoin, allowing the collection of human biometrics in a privacy-secure manner, which can then be used as training data for AI models.

In March 2024, Privasea announced the completion of a $5 million seed funding round, with Binance Labs among the investors.

3. AI Knowledge Sharing and Search Platform: QnA3.AI (GPT)

QnA3.AI (GPT), or QnA3, is an AI-driven Web3 knowledge-sharing and search platform designed to provide accurate cryptocurrency-related knowledge. It offers information access and complex logic analysis for decision-making, such as trading decisions. It was also part of Binance Labs’ Season 6 Incubation Program in September 2023. In February 2024, QnA3.AI launched its token GPT on OKX, and in March 2024, it announced it had secured investment from Binance Labs.

4. AI Robot Platform: MyShell

MyShell is building an AI consumption application layer that connects users, creators, and open-source AI researchers. MyShell allows users to easily discover or create AI agent-based applications or robots, such as voice chatbots, language learning assistants, and image generation tools, by providing a full suite of AI agent tools. It was selected for Binance Labs’ Season 6 Incubation Program in 2023, and in December 2023, the platform completed a $5.6 million seed round at a $57 million valuation.

In March 2024, MyShell announced the completion of an $11 million Pre-A funding round, with investments from Dragonfly, Delphi Digital, and Bankless Ventures. In August 2024, it announced further investment from Binance Labs.

5. Decentralized AI Network: Sahara AI

Sahara AI is a decentralized AI network infrastructure that aims to help users deploy or build customized and personalized AI products, ensuring that all contributors in the AI value chain are fairly recognized and rewarded.

In August 2024, Sahara AI announced the completion of a $43 million funding round, led by Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, and Polychain Capital.

In its 2025 roadmap released on December 24, Sahara AI revealed the launch of its data service platform and testnet, where users can earn rewards for data collection and annotation. The Sahara Chain mainnet is expected to launch in Q3 2025.

Pantera Capital’s 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment List:

1. Decentralized AGI system Sentient

Sentient is committed to building a decentralized artificial general intelligence (AGI) platform through community contributions, aiming to compete with traditional closed-source AI development models such as OpenAI. Support AI model creators to tokenize them, and incentivize users to contribute and expand AI models by using Web3 technology to jointly build open source AI models contributed by the community.

In July this year, Sentient announced the completion of a US$85 million seed round of financing from investment institutions including Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Hack VC, etc.

Delphi Digital’s 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio:

1. Decentralized AI Operating System: 0G Labs

OG Labs (Zero Gravity Labs) initially introduced itself with a modular AI blockchain narrative, claiming scalability through a decentralized application (DApp) layer to support AI applications. In March, OG announced the completion of a $35 million pre-seed funding round, with investors including Hack VC, Animoca Brands, and Delphi Digital.

However, in November, OG Labs announced securing $290 million in new funding, including $40 million in seed funding and a $250 million token purchase commitment. According to co-founder Michael Heinrich, once the OG token is listed and traded on cryptocurrency exchanges next year, the project will be able to extract funds from the token commitments.

Additionally, OG Labs transitioned from a modular AI blockchain to building a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) aimed at supporting the development of on-chain AI applications. The modular AI aspect is just one part of this broader vision.

The mainnet release of the OG protocol is expected in the first or second quarter of next year.

2. AI Data Collection Platform: Grass (GRASS)

Grass, developed by Wynd Network (a decentralized internet proxy network), is a decentralized resource-sharing and redistribution platform (DePIN) that allows people to sell idle internet bandwidth and network data.

Users can automatically share unused bandwidth and personal data by downloading the Grass Chrome extension, earning additional rewards. This concept is similar to earning tokens through “data mining” and bandwidth sharing. Grass also converts the collected personal data into AI datasets for developers to use in AI training, positioning itself as a decentralized data layer for AI.

In September 2024, Grass announced the completion of a Series A funding round, with a reported valuation of nearly $1 billion. Investors include Hack VC, Polychain Capital, and Delphi Digital, although the exact funding amount has not been disclosed. On October 16, the Grass token (GRASS) officially launched.

On November 25, Andrew Kang, partner at Mechanism Capital, stated that AI’s rapid development has made data one of the world’s most valuable assets. Through a cryptographic incentive mechanism, Grass has created a data pipeline that most AI companies cannot access. With its current growth rate, Grass is expected to achieve nine-figure revenue next year and could potentially surpass a billion dollars.

3. Decentralized AI Network: Allora

Allora, formerly known as Upshot, initially a platform for NFT price evaluations, rebranded in February 2024 and pivoted to become a decentralized AI network.

On the Allora platform, users can predict tasks and utilize multiple AI agents to assess the performance of an AI model under current conditions. Rewards are allocated based on the quality of the predictions and assessments from the agents. This incentivization model allows the models on Allora to continuously learn and improve, adapting to market developments.

In June 2024, Allora Labs announced completing a $3 million strategic funding round for the decentralized AI network, with investments from Archetype, Delphi Ventures, CMS Holdings, and others. With this round, Allora’s total funding reached $35 million.

4. Decentralized GPU Project: io.net (IO)

io.net is a decentralized AI computing power DePIN protocol designed to address the computing power shortage in the AI and machine learning fields by leveraging distributed GPU and CPU resources. The platform has built a bilateral market around chips, where the supply side consists of global GPU and CPU chip computing power, while the demand side includes AI engineers seeking to complete model training or inference tasks. The project’s mission is to integrate millions of GPUs into its DePIN network.

In March 2024, io.net announced completing a $30 million Series A funding round, with investments from Hack VC, Multicoin Capital, Delphi Digital, and Solana Labs. With this, the project’s total funding reached $40 million, and its valuation hit $1 billion.

In June 2024, the io.net token (IO) was launched on Binance Launchpool, and in October, the IO token was listed on Coinbase.

Hack VC’s 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio:

1. GPU Tokenization Platform: Exabits

Exabits aims to unlock over a trillion-dollar AI computing market by tokenizing physical GPUs into investable, liquid financial assets. Splitting and tokenizing GPU computing resources allows investors to purchase EGPUs, representing GPU capacity, as assets to earn returns.

Currently, Exabits has created a pathway to GPU-Fi (G-Fi), enabling GPU assets to flow across various financial platforms. This enhances capital efficiency across the AI ecosystem and democratizes AI computing, allowing anyone to participate in the AI computation economy. Exabits provides enterprise-grade GPU resources for companies such as EMC, Viggle, Lepton, IO.NET, Aethir, Akash, MyShell, Nebula Block, and Game Killer.

Exabits completed a seed round, though the amount was not disclosed in February. On December 11, Exabits announced it had raised $15 million in seed funding, led by Hack VC, bringing its total funding to $20 million.

2. GPU asset tokenization platform GAIB

Similar to Exabits, GAIB aims to unlock a trillion-dollar AI computing market by tokenizing GPU assets, transforming the traditional GPU financing model. On December 13, GAIB announced the completion of a $5 million seed funding round, with participation from Hack VC, Faction, Aethir, and others.

GAIB has completed prototype development and will launch a pilot project this month. It plans to roll out its Alpha product and platform token in the next two months.

3. AI Agent Infrastructure: Theoriq

Theoriq is a modular, composable AI Agent infrastructure network developed by Web3 machine learning platform ChainML. It provides the necessary tools to support users in creating AI agents without the need for coding.

In May, ChainML announced it raised $6.2 million in a seed round extension, led by Hack VC.

Currently in testnet, Theoriq plans to launch its mainnet by the end of 2024.

4. AI Image Generation Bot: imgnAI

imgnAI is a consumer-facing AI image generation bot, which allows users to generate images with simple text commands, similar to products like Midjourney. However, to unlock more creative tools and features on the imgnAI platform, users need to purchase the native token, IMGNAI.

In January, imgnAI announced it had completed a $1.6 million seed round, led by Hack VC, and also developed the Twitter AI Agent avatar @Naifu (Naifu).

Polychain’s 2024 Crypto AI Project Investment Portfolio:

1. Decentralized AI Cloud Platform: Hyperbolic

Hyperbolic is building an open AI cloud platform that integrates global GPU computing resources via blockchain technology to address cost and allocation bottlenecks in AI model computing. The platform includes an AI inference service and a GPU marketplace. The former enables developers to access open-source AI models with simple API calls, supporting AI model training and fine-tuning, while the latter allows GPU computing power to be traded like a commodity, supporting GPU rental and transactions.

On December 11, Hyperbolic announced the completion of a $12 million Series A funding round, led by Variant and Polychain Capital. Earlier in July, Hyperbolic had raised $7 million in a seed round, also led by Polychain Capital. Hyperbolic’s total funding now exceeds $20 million.

2. AI Agent-Focused L1 Network: Talus Network

Talus Network is an L1 network infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents, enabling users to create their personalized AI agents. This L1 network is based on the Move language and has yet to launch its mainnet, but interested users can apply for the testnet.

On November 26, Talus Network announced it had raised $6 million in a $150 million funding round, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Foresight Ventures, Animoca, and others. Earlier in February, it raised $3 million, also led by Polychain Capital. As of December 24, Talus Network’s total disclosed funding is $9 million.

3. Decentralized AI Data Network: OpenLedger

OpenLedger is a blockchain for AI data, providing the infrastructure to build domain-specific language models. It supports developers in creating AI agents, chatbots, and autonomous driving applications by collecting and managing specific data via its network, using blockchain to attribute rewards to data contributors and creators.

On July 2, OpenLedger announced it had raised $8 million in a seed round, led by Polychain Capital and others.

4. Decentralized AI Network: Ritual

Ritual is a decentralized AI network infrastructure designed to create an open, permissionless system for building, training, improving, and trading AI models. The platform provides an SDK that enables developers to seamlessly integrate AI models into any chain-based applications or protocols. Additionally, users can fine-tune, tokenize, trade, and train AI models using cryptographic mechanisms.

On April 8, Ritual announced it had raised several million dollars in an A1 round, led by Polychain Capital (exact investment amount undisclosed). Ritual had previously completed a $25 million funding round in November 2023, with investment from Archetype and others.

Ritual Chain’s testnet launched on November 19, providing developers with a platform to build AI-native applications.

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