Venice AI hits $1B valuation with $65M raise, prioritizes privacy
6.8 Investments Venice AI reached unicorn status with a $1B valuation after a $65M Series A led by crypto VCs. The privacy-first platform serves 3M+ users and uses revenue to buy back and burn its VVV token.
Venice AI, a privacy-first AI platform, has achieved unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation after closing a $65 million Series A funding round led by crypto-focused investors including Dragonfly, Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, and North Island Ventures. Founded in 2024, Venice AI distinguishes itself by offering access to over 200 AI models—including those from OpenAI and Anthropic—while ensuring user privacy through client-side encryption and external proxy routing. This approach guarantees that no user data is stored on its servers. The platform serves over 3 million active users, processes 1.7 million API calls daily, and reports annualized revenues exceeding $70 million. Already profitable, Venice AI plans to use the new capital for GPU purchases and proprietary data centers. Instead of selling its native VVV tokens, the company raised funds by selling 8.98% equity and granting investors vested grants and warrants for VVV tokens, all subject to lockup and vesting. Venice continues to buy back and burn VVV tokens using revenue, reducing circulating supply.
