Circle Co-Founder Launches AI-Native Financial Platform With $18M Backing From a16z
Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle and CEO of Catena Labs, has unveiled a pioneering financial platform designed for the AI era. The venture secured $18 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division, targeting the creation of a regulated institution where AI agents and humans coexist in a system optimized for speed and trust.
Neville argues that existing financial infrastructure is inadequate for AI-driven economic activity, citing rigidity, high costs, and slow transaction speeds as critical bottlenecks. The initiative aims to rebuild financial rails for real-time, global AI transactions.