One of the founders of Circle is launching a new crypto startup. And Tom Brady is betting on it.
What’s happening:
- Boston based artificial intelligence startup Catena Labs has raised $18M USD in a seed round
- The financing round was led by a16z, Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures and included notable participation from Tom Brady
The big idea:
- Catena Labs is aiming to build the first fully regulated financial institution that is purpose built around using AI agents to make purchases and payments without any human intervention
- Catena Labs’ software platform is being developed to connect with regulated stablecoin issuers such as Circle and traditional payment methods in order to enable AI agents to safely transact autonomously
Why it matters:
- AI agents continue to be one of the most exciting emerging themes in technology, with Sam Altman’s OpenAI launching their first AI agent known as Operator and Jack Dorsey’s Block (NYSE: XYZ) previously unveiling their open source AI agent known as Goose
Going deeper:
- Catena Labs is co-founded by Sean Neville who was the co-founder of Circle and Matt Venables who previously founded equity secondary marketplace Vested and was also a engineer at Circle
The intrigue:
- Tom Brady was previously an investor and brand ambassador for trading platform FTX and this investment into Catena Labs is the first angel investment into a crypto startup that Tom Brady has made since the collapse of FTX which led ultimately led to their bankruptcy
