Catena Labs announced it secured $18 million in a seed funding round to launch what it calls the first AI-native bank. Led by the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz, the round also drew investment from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and NFL star Tom Brady.
Catena Labs was founded by Sean Neville and plans to use the funds to develop financial rails tailored to a future where artificial intelligence handles everyday transactions, Fortune reported.
Founder’s Background
Sean Neville is no stranger to spotting trends early. He co-founded the crypto firm Circle. Under his leadership, Circle grew to become the world’s second-largest issuer of stablecoins, digital tokens backed by assets like the U.S. dollar.
Neville stepped away from day-to-day operations in early 2020, but he remains on Circle’s board. Earlier this year, Circle filed paperwork to go public. With that chapter moving forward, Neville turned his attention to the booming AI sector.
Funding and Investors
Catena Labs’ $18 million seed round was led by a16z’s crypto-focused fund, marking its confidence in Neville’s vision. Other backers include Breyer Capital, known for early investments in emerging technologies, and Circle Ventures, which has a stake in various crypto projects.
Coinbase Ventures joined the round alongside Tom Brady, who has shown interest in technology ventures beyond his football career.
Investors received equity in Catena Labs and a token warrant, reserving them a share of a future cryptocurrency that the startup may release. Neville would not disclose Catena Labs’ valuation, nor does the company plan to launch its own cryptocurrency or stablecoin at this point.
Building an AI-Native Bank
After leaving Circle, Neville spent a year studying the rapidly evolving AI landscape. He grew convinced that the internet was shifting toward an “AI-native” model where bots and digital agents handle complex tasks.
In 2021, he and Matt Venables, another former Circle engineer, started a venture studio to experiment with technologies like decentralised identity.
By 2023, following OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, Neville’s team decided to focus fully on artificial intelligence for finance. They believed that current banking systems were outdated and unprepared for a future dominated by AI agents.
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Neville envisions a bank where customers rarely interact with human tellers or representatives. Instead, programmed AI “agents” will manage account openings, payments, and advice.
Those agents could negotiate, approve loans, or handle bill payments without human intervention. This shift aims to make financial services available wherever consumers are, on any platform or device they choose.
While humans will remain in the background, Neville predicts that clients will mostly deal with AI to handle routine transactions.
Product Roadmap and Technology
Catena Labs has assembled a small team of eight employees to build its platform from scratch. The company has already released an open-source protocol that outlines how AI-driven payments and identity verification should work.
Although Neville was not ready to share exact details of the roadmap, he said the platform will allow different AI agents to coordinate financial flows seamlessly.
Users may one day set their AI representative to automatically pay rent, invest spare cash, or manage subscriptions on their behalf.
Neville said stablecoins solve specific problems related to payment speed and transparency, but they are not a cure-all. Rather than centring the entire system around cryptocurrency, Catena Labs intends to use stablecoins selectively, alongside traditional payment rails and banking systems.
Neville believes the next decade will see AI become deeply embedded in financial services. By establishing an AI-native bank today, Catena Labs hopes to set standards that other institutions will follow.
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