OpenGradient, an open source AI platform, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding from investors including a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, Foresight Ventures, SV Angel, Coinbase Ventures, SALT Fund and Symbolic Capital. The platform plans to use the funds to develop decentralized infrastructure, tools and applied ML research to expand the open source AI ecosystem on the blockchain. The company’s testnet is expected to be available to developers in Q4 2024. OpenGradient is the first decentralized platform for hosting open source AI models, enabling secure execution and deployment of AI applications. Its new Heterogeneous AI Computing Architecture (HACA) allows for permissionless AI inference, statistical analysis, data processing and agent execution to run securely and scalably through smart contracts. The platform is designed to accelerate AI research and enable developers to leverage open source models and computational resources for various applications, including risk management, ML optimization, AI agents, sybil resistance and DeFi mechanism design.
Source: OpenGradient official blog