Key Takeaways:
- The startup is building foundational infrastructure for the autonomous agentic internet.
- Kite raised $18 million in Series A funding, co-led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst.
- Its Kite Agent Identity Resolution (AIR) platform establishes verifiable identity and programmable payments for AI agents.
Table of Contents
The Autonomous Agentic Internet Infrastructure got a Massive Boost
The concept of an autonomous agentic internet where artificial intelligence (AI) programs can independently interact and transact, just got a hefty dose of credibility. Kite, an infrastructure startup, has secured$18 million in Series A financing, co-led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, bringing the total to $33 million.
This bold investment is intended to address a key missing piece to the AI revolution: a trust layer for secure operation of autonomous agents at machine speed.
A Critical AI Platform For Agents
Kite’s main innovation, the Kite Agent Identity Resolution (AIR) platform, is meant to be the foundation of this new economy. The Kite AIR platform has two main components
- An “Agent Passport”, which provides verifiable cryptographic identity for AI programs
- An “Agent App Store”, where agents can discover and pay for services.
The Kite AIR platform is already live and has integrations that allow merchants (i.e., PayPal and Shopify) to be discoverable by AI shopping agents. The transaction is settled on-chain using stablecoins, which enables micro-payments with millisecond finality and with no risk of chargebacks.
What Does This Solve?
There is an urgent need for a common infrastructure. As AI agents evolve from simple chat agents to autonomy that can perform tasks such as online shopping and scheduling, the human-centric web of today has become too slow and brittle. An autonomous agentic internet will need a native financial trust layer and identity, capable of supporting machine-to-machine transactions at the scale necessary for regulated commerce, which no credit card or other payment rail can ever give us.
The Bottom Line
This investment in autonomous agentic internet represents a significant convergence opportunity for AI and the current evolution of blockchain. Utilizing decentralized networks, Kite offers the auditability, security, and programmable money an autonomous agent requires in order to operate independently of humans.
For the crypto industry, it represents a powerful new use case, beyond a speculative vehicle, serving as the foundational settlement layer for the next re-evolution of the internet.
Final Thought: Kite just got a major funding boost to build the core AI agent infrastructure. The goal is to make sure AI agents can trust each other, especially as they become the main users of the internet.
FAQs
What is the autonomous agentic internet?
It’s a predicted future state where AI programs (agents), not humans, become the primary users of the internet, autonomously performing tasks, making decisions, and transacting with each other.
What is a “trust layer,” in this case?
The trust layer is a combination of verifiable digital identity infrastructure, programmable payments, and enforceable rules around transactions that allow AI agents to communicate, interact, and transact securely, with no human intervention.
Why use blockchain technology for this?
Blockchain is a neutral, decentralized foundation for identity and payments that is not owned or controlled by a single entity, enabling auditability, tamper-proof, and permanent transactions, as well as fast settlement across different AI systems and platforms.
For more AI development stories, read: NVIDIA’s Robotics Developments: Omniverse & Cosmos AI Redefine Machine Intelligence
