Sean Neville has a knack for finding opportunities amid tech booms. In 2013, as investors grew more excited about cryptocurrencies and blockchain, he cofounded the crypto startup Circle. The company would eventually grow to become the world’s second largest issuer of stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets, like the U.S. dollar. In April, Circle filed to go public.
Now, Neville, who is still on the board of Circle after leaving in early 2020, has a new venture that aims to capitalize off of the AI boom. On Tuesday, he announced that his startup, Catena Labs, which he said plans to build an “AI-native bank,” had raised $18 million in a seed round led by the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors include Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and football legend Tom Brady.
