New York-based Ornn AI has raised $5.7 million in seed funding to launch what it calls the world’s first compute futures exchange, introducing a regulated market structure for GPU capacity. The round was co-led by Crucible Ventures and Vine Ventures, with participation from Link Ventures, Box Group, and several angel investors from finance, AI, and cloud infrastructure.
The new capital will support Ornn’s mission to transform compute into a tradable asset class by creating standardized, cash-settled futures and derivatives tied to GPU compute hours. This framework enables AI developers, data-center operators, and financial institutions to hedge against price volatility and depreciation risk in a market expected to grow exponentially as AI demand accelerates.
Ornn’s exchange will introduce U.S.-regulated trading for both traditional and perpetual futures on compute hours, with benchmark GPU indices designed to create fungibility across regions and cluster configurations. These indices will serve as transparent reference points for pricing and forward curves, offering visibility into the cost of compute across cloud and on-premise environments.
Through this platform, AI companies can lock in compute costs for training and inference, while data center operators and cloud providers can stabilize their revenues by preselling capacity. Lenders and investors can hedge against GPU depreciation, and speculators can gain exposure to compute as an emerging macro asset.
The company is designing its systems in accordance with CFTC-aligned standards, including the use of USD cash collateral, transparent reporting, and central clearing, in support of U.S. policy priorities for domestic AI infrastructure.
Built for institutional-grade participants, Ornn’s platform aims to deliver reliable execution, efficient clearing, and accurate pricing across counterparties. The company’s benchmark indices will underpin a new class of financial products that aim to bring liquidity, structure, and transparency to the compute economy.
KEY QUOTES:
“Compute powers the AI economy, and until now, its price has been unhedged and unpredictable. We built Ornn to make compute tradeable, transparent, and investable. By standardizing GPU capacity into regulated futures contracts, we’re giving the world the tools to plan, finance, and build the digital infrastructure of the next century.”
Kush Bavaria, Co-Founder & CEO, Ornn
“The AI data center boom is the largest infrastructure build in human history, with $4T booked to be spent by 2030. This immense capital deployment requires financial engineering to price, manage, and transfer risk between market participants. As early investors who funded and shaped market structure for digital assets, we are excited to back Ornn as they establish a new market structure and financial contracts for the AI economy starting with tradable OTC and listed markets on compute indices.”Meltem Demirors, Founder, Crucible Capital
“At Vine, we back founders who are obsessed with solving foundational problems. Ornn’s team is tackling one of the biggest challenges in modern technology: how to bring structure, liquidity, and long-term planning to compute itself. Turning GPU capacity into a standardized financial product has the potential to reshape how AI infrastructure is financed, and we’re proud to support them at this inflection point.”
Alex Moskowitz, NYC Lead, Vine Ventures
