OpenGradient, a decentralized AI infrastructure company, announced it has raised $9.5 million in total funding to advance its platform for verifiable AI model execution.
The funding round includes backing from a16z crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, Foresight Ventures, and several other institutional and angel investors. The capital will support the expansion of OpenGradient’s network, designed to enable open, auditable, and scalable AI computation.
The company is addressing a growing challenge in artificial intelligence: the lack of transparency in how models are executed. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in software, finance, and autonomous systems, developers often rely on opaque cloud-based systems or must build complex verification layers themselves.
OpenGradient is building what it describes as a “network for open intelligence,” a decentralized infrastructure that allows AI models to be hosted, executed, and verified with cryptographic guarantees. The platform functions as a specialized compute layer, enabling applications and systems to outsource complex AI workloads while independently verifying results.
The platform includes three core components: a verifiable inference network that attaches cryptographic proofs to each AI output, a decentralized model hub with more than 2,000 models contributed by developers, and developer tools that simplify integration without requiring expertise in cryptographic systems.
OpenGradient has already demonstrated early traction, reporting more than 2 million users across its network and adjacent products, over 2 million verifiable inferences processed, and more than 500,000 cryptographic proofs generated. The platform also supports multiple revenue streams and a growing ecosystem of developers.
The company aims to provide an alternative to centralized AI infrastructure by enabling developers to build applications with greater transparency, control, and accountability over how AI systems operate.
KEY QUOTE:
“The AI stack is consolidating around a handful of closed providers, and the applications being built on top have no way to audit what’s running underneath. We’re building the open alternative, infrastructure where models are inspectable, execution is provable, and developers own the intelligence their products depend on. This funding lets us scale that vision.”
Matthew Wang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, OpenGradient
