AI and crypto are the buzziest buzzwords in Silicon Valley, and startups have tried to combine the two since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. The results so far have been mixed at best, but two brand-name venture capitalist firms see a winner in Kite, a startup building a blockchain to spur communication between different AI applications.
The company announced on Tuesday an $18 million fundraise led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. Participants in the Series A included 8VC, Samsung Next, and Alumni Ventures, among others. Chi Zhang, cofounder and CEO of Kite, declined to disclose her startup’s valuation. She also declined to specify whether the raise was purely for equity or token warrants, which are promised tranches of a yet-to-be-released cryptocurrency.
