Pond raises $7.5 million to build a comprehensive ecosystem for training Web3 AI models

The fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, Pond co-founder and CEO Dylan Zhang told The Block.

Web3 AI startup Pond has secured $7.5 million in a seed funding round to expand its platform for building crypto-native AI models.

The round was led by Archetype with participation from Cyber Fund, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Near Foundation, Chris Yin of Plume Network, Cynthia Wu of Matrixport and Tesa Ho, head of market research at Flashbots, joining as angel investors.

Founded in 2023, Pond initially focused on using on-chain data to help users explore the profiles and connections of crypto users. Now, the startup is pivoting to a platform for building Web3 AI models.

“We are building a complete model ecosystem, not only building our own models but also helping others create and commercialize their models,” CTO Bill Shi told The Block.

According to Shi, Pond's Web3 AI models are designed to power crypto-specific use cases driven by on-chain data.

“On-chain data is extremely messy and vast in quantity, making it incomprehensible to the human mind. By leveraging AI capabilities, we transform what is beyond human understanding into comprehensible information, helping users make better use of on-chain data,” he said.

The fundraising was structured as a SAFE with token warrants, Pond co-founder and CEO Dylan Zhang told The Block.