Venice AI Raises $65M Series A, Reaches $1B Valuation

Venice AI, a privacy-focused AI platform, announced its first outside funding on July 1 — a $65 million Series A — reaching unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by crypto-focused VC Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and North Island Ventures. The company is led by Erik Voorhees, ShapeShift founder and early Bitcoin advocate, who says the proceeds will go toward building and buying its own data centers and GPUs to reduce reliance on GPU leasing and improve gross margins.