Blab Tech
Venice.ai Secures $65 Million Series A, Becomes $1 B Unicorn with Privacy-Focused AI Platform
When a privacy‑first AI platform crosses the $1 billion mark, it signals a shift away from the cloud‑centric giants that dominate the market.
On Wednesday, Seattle‑based Venice.ai announced it had closed a $65 million Series A round, valuing the company at $1 billion. The funding was led by crypto‑focused venture firm Dragonfly and included participation from Coinbase Ventures, North Island Ventures, Archetype, Morgan Creek, Liquid2 Ventures and Seattle’s Founders’ Co‑op.
The announcement follows a period of rapid growth for Venice.ai, which was founded two years ago by Erik Voorhees, former ShapeShift founder, and Jesse Proudman, a veteran of enterprise cloud infrastructure. The company’s executive team also includes Austin Virts (VP Marketing), Jonathan Shapiro (Head of Strategy), Tim Shakarian (Head of Engineering) and Johanna Tseng (VP Business Operations). Voorhees and Proudman met while studying at the University of Puget Sound and have worked together on multiple ventures, including Blue Box (acquired by IBM) and Strix Leviathan (later spun out as Makara and acquired by Betterment).
Venice.ai’s core product is a multimodal AI platform that allows developers and consumers to run large language, image, video, code and audio models on local devices without sending data to a central server. The platform’s architecture stores conversational logs on the user’s hardware, a design that the company says protects privacy and reduces the risk of data breaches, subpoenas or regulatory changes that could expose personal information. The company also removes the content filters that are common in commercial AI services, offering an “unrestricted” experience while still implementing safeguards against illegal or harmful activity.
According to the company’s public statements, Venice.ai’s user base surpassed three million active users in April 2026 and the business became profitable in the first quarter of its fiscal year. Revenue comes from premium consumer subscriptions, a developer API, and a utility token called VVV that lets developers lock computing power in exchange for access. The Series A capital will fund the construction of a proprietary GPU data‑center, a move that would allow Venice.ai to operate independently of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
The company’s growth has attracted attention from the broader AI and crypto communities. The Series A round is part of a larger trend of venture capital flowing into privacy‑centric AI projects, with more than $1.2 billion invested in the sector during the first half of 2026 according to Crunchbase data. Venice.ai’s valuation places it among the few AI startups that have reached unicorn status.
Venice.ai’s leadership has also highlighted regulatory challenges in its home state. CEO Erik Voorhees has publicly opposed Washington’s 9.9% “millionaires tax,” a capital‑gains tax that will take effect in 2028. He has said that the tax could drive high‑earning founders and venture capital out of the state and that the company may relocate if the policy remains in place.
The company’s expansion plans include growing its workforce from 15 to 45 employees, with most staff working remotely and a small core team based in Seattle. The move to build its own data‑center and expand its engineering team signals a shift from a software‑only model to a more hardware‑centric operation.
Venice.ai’s trajectory illustrates a broader push in the AI industry toward decentralization and privacy. By keeping data on local devices and removing corporate content filters, the company positions itself as an alternative to the dominant, centralized AI platforms of OpenAI, Anthropic and other big‑tech firms. The company’s next steps will likely involve scaling its infrastructure, navigating state‑level tax policy, and further refining its product to balance unrestricted AI access with responsible usage.
The Series A round and the company’s new infrastructure plans underscore the growing intersection of AI, privacy, and crypto‑financed venture capital. As Venice.ai continues to grow, its performance will be closely watched by investors, regulators and users who are increasingly concerned about data security and corporate control of AI services.
On Wednesday, Seattle‑based Venice.ai announced it had closed a $65 million Series A round, valuing the company at $1 billion. The funding was led by crypto‑focused venture firm Dragonfly and included participation from Coinbase Ventures, North Island Ventures, Archetype, Morgan Creek, Liquid2 Ventures and Seattle’s Founders’ Co‑op.
The announcement follows a period of rapid growth for Venice.ai, which was founded two years ago by Erik Voorhees, former ShapeShift founder, and Jesse Proudman, a veteran of enterprise cloud infrastructure. The company’s executive team also includes Austin Virts (VP Marketing), Jonathan Shapiro (Head of Strategy), Tim Shakarian (Head of Engineering) and Johanna Tseng (VP Business Operations). Voorhees and Proudman met while studying at the University of Puget Sound and have worked together on multiple ventures, including Blue Box (acquired by IBM) and Strix Leviathan (later spun out as Makara and acquired by Betterment).
Venice.ai’s core product is a multimodal AI platform that allows developers and consumers to run large language, image, video, code and audio models on local devices without sending data to a central server. The platform’s architecture stores conversational logs on the user’s hardware, a design that the company says protects privacy and reduces the risk of data breaches, subpoenas or regulatory changes that could expose personal information. The company also removes the content filters that are common in commercial AI services, offering an “unrestricted” experience while still implementing safeguards against illegal or harmful activity.
According to the company’s public statements, Venice.ai’s user base surpassed three million active users in April 2026 and the business became profitable in the first quarter of its fiscal year. Revenue comes from premium consumer subscriptions, a developer API, and a utility token called VVV that lets developers lock computing power in exchange for access. The Series A capital will fund the construction of a proprietary GPU data‑center, a move that would allow Venice.ai to operate independently of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
The company’s growth has attracted attention from the broader AI and crypto communities. The Series A round is part of a larger trend of venture capital flowing into privacy‑centric AI projects, with more than $1.2 billion invested in the sector during the first half of 2026 according to Crunchbase data. Venice.ai’s valuation places it among the few AI startups that have reached unicorn status.
Venice.ai’s leadership has also highlighted regulatory challenges in its home state. CEO Erik Voorhees has publicly opposed Washington’s 9.9% “millionaires tax,” a capital‑gains tax that will take effect in 2028. He has said that the tax could drive high‑earning founders and venture capital out of the state and that the company may relocate if the policy remains in place.
The company’s expansion plans include growing its workforce from 15 to 45 employees, with most staff working remotely and a small core team based in Seattle. The move to build its own data‑center and expand its engineering team signals a shift from a software‑only model to a more hardware‑centric operation.
Venice.ai’s trajectory illustrates a broader push in the AI industry toward decentralization and privacy. By keeping data on local devices and removing corporate content filters, the company positions itself as an alternative to the dominant, centralized AI platforms of OpenAI, Anthropic and other big‑tech firms. The company’s next steps will likely involve scaling its infrastructure, navigating state‑level tax policy, and further refining its product to balance unrestricted AI access with responsible usage.
The Series A round and the company’s new infrastructure plans underscore the growing intersection of AI, privacy, and crypto‑financed venture capital. As Venice.ai continues to grow, its performance will be closely watched by investors, regulators and users who are increasingly concerned about data security and corporate control of AI services.
