We are excited to announce that OpenGraident has raised $8.5M in seed funding to build a groundbreaking end-to-end decentralized platform for sovereign, secure, and open-source AI.
Our Mission and Vision Inspire Steps We Take
At OpenGradient, we aim to accelerate open-source AI by democratizing model ownership, streamlining AI deployment, and ensuring universal access to cutting-edge AI technologies. We strive to scale AI compute on-chain, enhancing security and verifiability while enabling seamless model hosting and deployment.
We envision a future where AI is not only advanced and secure but also accessible to all, enabling next-gen intelligent and optimization applications and driving transformative innovations across industries.
Our Innovation and Scalable Approach Set Us Apart
OpenGradient’s end-to-end decentralized platform offers scalable AI compute on-chain, ensuring verifiability and attribution while enhancing security for AI deployment and hosting. Our multi-layer technology stack includes an EVM-compatible blockchain with its innovative heterogeneous AI compute architecture (HACA) and a proprietary library of feature-rich tools to support and scale secure AI workflows on-chain. Our research team has also started an advanced research collective focused on on-chain intelligence and compute.
OpenGradient empowers developers to build and deploy optimized decentralized applications (dApps) with ease. OpenGradient’s web portal and SDK allow Web2 developers to leverage its AI stack without the complexities of blockchain while enjoying the security and composability benefits of a decentralized infrastructure.
Our CEO and Co-Founder, Matthew Wang, said, “Developers today face significant hurdles when developing secure software for custom AI models, often grappling with developing a variety of complex cryptographic or hardware solutions into their stack. OpenGradient revolutionizes this approach, offering near-instantaneous model deployment and secure inference of AI models in mere seconds.”
We Are Backed by Visionaries and Industry Veterans
We are proud to be backed by these visionaries while embarking on this exciting journey. This $8.5 million seed round included participation from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (a16z CSX), SV Angel, Coinbase Ventures, SALT Fund, Symbolic Capital, Foresight Ventures, and angel investors, including Balaji Srinivasan (ex-Coinbase CTO), Illia Polosukhin (NEAR Founder), Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon Founder), and more.
Principal at SV Angel, Mike Liu, said, “OpenGradient is ushering in a new era for decentralized AI by developing infrastructure to support the next generation of intelligent applications. They've built a truly disruptive tech stack at the intersection of AI and blockchain, and we're excited to support such an innovative and talented team.”
Looking Ahead
The funding will be used to continue building out the decentralized infrastructure, deploying solutions and tools for AI and Web3 developers, and advancing applied ML research to grow the open-source AI ecosystem on blockchain. OpenGradient’s testnet is expected to be available to developers in Q4 2024.
Join the AI and Blockchain Revolution
We invite you to be part of our mission that bridges AI and blockchain to create a secure, more accessible, and decentralized AI future. Learn more at opengradient.ai/blog. Follow us on X and join us on Discord.
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