"Catena Labs, which builds tools to allow AI agents to safely conduct financial transactions, announced Wednesday that it's secured $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Acrew Capital and the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto). Neville declined to specify at what valuation he raised the capital for his newest startup, which drummed up an initial round of $18 million led by a16z crypto in 2025. Other participants in the more recent fundraise include Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, and QED."
"On Wednesday, Catena Labs also announced that it's applying for a national trust bank charter in New York from the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as the company seeks regulatory backing to process payments and hold customers' money. The majority, if not all initial transactions, will be executed by agents, Neville predicted in an interview with Fortune."
"Agentic finance has become a buzzword in fintech, as the likes of Stripe and Visa predict that, in the near future, humans will task bots to order groceries for them, pay for subscriptions on their behalf, or move money between their bank accounts. The opportunity to come up with the framework by which agents can make financial transactions on behalf of humans and businesses is obviously a huge one, Lauren Kolodny, founding partner at Acrew Capital, told Fortune."
"That future hasn't come to pass just yet, but Neville and his cofounder Matt Venables, a onetime executive at Circle, believe it's close enough at hand to build out a suite of tools to give humans confidence that their AI agents are handling money safely and correctly."
Catena Labs, founded by Sean Neville and Matt Venables, secured $30 million in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, and QED. The company previously raised $18 million in 2025 led by a16z crypto. Catena Labs is applying for a national trust bank charter in New York from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to gain regulatory backing for processing payments and holding customer funds. The company expects most initial transactions to be executed by AI agents. The broader market trend is agentic finance, where fintech companies anticipate humans will delegate tasks like payments and money movement to bots, requiring frameworks that ensure safe and correct financial actions.
Read at fortune.com
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