Catena Labs
10 known investors
Catena is building a financial institution purpose-built for AI agents, combining a technology platform with a national trust bank to provide regulated banking with deterministic policy enforcement and immutable audit trails. The company is pursuing OCC-regulated charter status to offer direct, governed banking services to AI agents operating at scale.
Also known as Catena · Catena Labs, Inc.
Founders & leadership
Investors · 10
Also in the syndicate · 3
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$30M disclosed across 1 of 4 rounds · 2025–2026
- Undisclosed amountSeries AJun 2026 · 2 sources
a16z crypto (lead), Acrew Capital (lead), Paradigm (lead), Sequoia Capital (lead), Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, Multicoin Capital, QED, Robot Ventures
Source ↗ - $30MSeries AMay 2026 · 3 sourcesSource ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Catena Labs is a Boston-headquartered financial technology startup founded in 2025 by Sean Neville (CEO) and Matt Venables (CTO), both formerly of the stablecoin issuer Circle. The company is building what it describes as the first fully regulated, AI-native financial institution designed for an economy in which AI agents autonomously make purchases, receive payments and interact with businesses and consumers. Its stated premise is that legacy payment rails are slow, fragile and expensive for machine-speed transactions, and that agent identity, verification and compliance require purpose-built infrastructure.
The product offering, as described in May 2026 coverage, is an invite-only platform that lets people and businesses set guardrails governing how their AI agents move money — including spending limits, permitted counterparties and caps on how much cash a given account may hold at one time. Alongside the platform, Catena released the Agent Commerce Kit (ACK), an open-source set of protocols and patterns for agent identity, payments, receipts and human oversight, built on W3C web standards, which allows agents to hold dedicated accounts and wallets and to interact with standardized paywalls. The company has said it plans to offer regulated financial services including stablecoin-based payment rails with near-instant settlement and low fees, while bridging to existing payment networks.
In May 2026 Catena Labs announced it was applying to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a New York national trust bank charter, seeking regulatory authority to process payments and hold customer funds. At the time of the Series A the company had 11 employees and said new capital would fund hiring, scaling of its financial infrastructure and its charter pursuit.
Founding story
Catena Labs was founded in 2025 by Sean Neville and Matt Venables. Neville co-founded Circle and co-created the USDC stablecoin, served as Circle co-CEO and remains on Circle's board; Venables was previously an executive at Circle. The company emerged from stealth in May 2025 with an $18 million seed round and the thesis that AI agents will soon conduct most economic transactions while existing financial systems are unprepared for automated counterparties.
Business model
Catena Labs is building a regulated financial institution and platform for AI agents, intending to provide financial services — including payment rails and custody of customer funds — directly to agents and the businesses and consumers they act for, subject to obtaining a national trust bank charter. Access to the platform was invite-only as of May 2026.
Sources do not detail pricing. The company has said it plans to offer regulated financial services including stablecoin-based payment rails positioned on near-instant settlement and minimal transaction costs.
Traction
As of May 2026 the company had 11 employees, an invite-only platform live and moving real money, $48 million raised in total, and a pending national trust bank charter application with the OCC.
Latest developments
May 2026: $30 million Series A co-led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto with Breyer Capital, General Catalyst and QED participating; application filed for a New York national trust bank charter with the OCC; invite-only platform access opened. Capital is earmarked for hiring, scaling operations and infrastructure, and the charter process.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Catena Labs operates in the emerging 'agentic finance' segment, where incumbents such as Stripe and Visa have also predicted AI agents will initiate consumer payments. Coverage positions the company as an early entrant seeking regulatory legitimacy, via a national trust bank charter application, as a differentiator against both startups and legacy banks.
Rather than simply provisioning wallets for agents, the company emphasizes giving businesses a governed, trustworthy way to authorize agent spending, coupled with a pursuit of direct bank-charter regulatory status. Neville has framed the core insight as: giving an agent a wallet is easy compared with giving a business a governed way to trust it.
Technology
The platform provides policy controls over agent money movement (spending limits, allowed recipients, account balance caps). Catena also publishes the Agent Commerce Kit (ACK), an open-source protocol set built on W3C web standards covering agent identity, payments, receipts and human oversight, enabling agents to hold their own accounts and wallets and to transact through standardized paywalls. Planned rails are stablecoin-based with near-instant settlement, integrated with existing payment networks.
Go-to-market
The company emerged from stealth in May 2025 with an open-source developer kit (ACK) to seed adoption among developers and businesses, and by May 2026 had opened invite-only access to its commercial platform.
Developers, businesses and consumers that deploy AI agents to conduct financial transactions on their behalf, who need governed, auditable control over agent spending.
Geography
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States; its trust bank charter application is for a New York national trust bank with the OCC.
History
Founded in 2025 and emerging from stealth in May 2025 with $18 million in seed funding led by a16z crypto and the release of its open-source Agent Commerce Kit. In May 2026 it announced a $30 million Series A co-led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto, bringing total funding to $48 million, opened invite-only platform access, and disclosed an application to the OCC for a New York national trust bank charter.
Risks & controversies
The company acknowledges the agentic-payments market is nascent — Neville described it as 'very early days' and reporting notes the predicted future of agent-conducted transactions has not yet materialized. The national trust bank charter is an application only and has not been granted. Valuation for both rounds was undisclosed, and the team remains small (11 employees).
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsSeries A of $30 million co-led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto, with Breyer Capital, General Catalyst and QED participating; valuation undisclosed. Proceeds to fund hiring, scaling operations and the trust bank charter pursuit.
$30M source ↗
The platform lets users set guardrails for how AI agents move money, including spending limits, permitted recipients, and maximum account balances.
Catena Labs announced an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter in New York, to obtain regulatory authority to process payments and hold customer funds.
Catena Labs announced an $18 million seed financing led by a16z crypto, with Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, CoinFund, Pillar VC, Stanford Engineering VF and angel investors including Tom Brady, Kevin Lin and Sam Palmisano, to build a regulated AI-native financial institution.
$18M source ↗
Open-source set of protocols and building blocks, based on W3C web standards, for AI agent identity, payments, receipts and human oversight, enabling agents to hold accounts and wallets and use standardized paywalls.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Circle cofounder raises $30 million for Series A ‘AI-native bank’ Catena Labs | Fortunefortune.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Catena Labs do?
- Catena Labs builds an AI-native banking platform and regulated financial infrastructure so AI agents can transact under human-set rules.
- Who founded Catena Labs?
- Catena Labs was founded by Sean Neville, Matt Venables.
- Who are Catena Labs's investors?
- Catena Labs's investors include a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, Acrew Capital, Multicoin Capital, Paradigm, Robot Ventures, Sequoia Capital.
- How much funding has Catena Labs raised?
- Catena Labs has disclosed $30M raised across 1 of its 4 known rounds.