As AI became the hottest trade, some crypto venture firms shifted attention away from Web3 and toward anything that could be framed as AI. The source article argues that top-tier AI deals remain out of reach for many crypto-focused investors, pushing them toward projects inside the crypto sector that carry AI branding even when the product is still early, incomplete, or barely usable.
The piece points to February 28, when Paradigm said it was preparing a new AI and robotics fund of up to $1.5 billion, as a sign that crypto capital was moving toward the sector. At the same time, it says the best AI startups also choose investors based on reputation and resources, leaving smaller crypto VCs with fewer ways to access the top end of the market.
Five recent fundraising rounds are used as examples
The article lists five projects that recently raised capital. Derivio announced on March 18 that it had raised $6 million in total to date, with backers including YZiLabs. The project previously operated as a decentralized derivatives platform on zkSync and later introduced an Ethereum Layer 2 network, but the article says its current website prominently features Pump.fun chain-scanning tools while its Agent page still reads “COMING SOON.”
Superpower announced a pre-seed round on March 6 with participation from Taisu Ventures, Paper Ventures, CatcherVC, and 280 Capital, though no amount was disclosed. According to the source, the project’s website had almost no interactive features, and its official X account published its first post on the same day the funding was announced.
Finrob raised $3.9 million in seed funding on February 25 from Maven11, Placeholder, Archetype, Fabric Ventures, Dispersion Capital, and Node Capital. It presents itself as an AI-powered crypto research platform and integrates data sources including CoinGecko, Glassnode, Tavily, Perplexity, DefiLlama, Etherscan, and LunarCrush. The article questions whether stitching existing large models to multiple market and on-chain data feeds justifies that valuation and funding size.
DeFAI and agent infrastructure are also drawing checks
PlutonAI completed a $2.7 million private round on February 17, led by KitchenVC with HyperGPT participating. The project describes itself as a DeFAI platform where AI agents analyze markets, optimize strategies, manage yield opportunities, and execute complex on-chain actions. The source argues that these capabilities are no longer rare as general AI tools improve quickly, and it notes that the author was unable to log in and test the product directly.
Unicity raised $3 million in seed funding on February 19, led by Blockchange with Outlier Ventures and Tawasal participating. The company says it is building infrastructure for an “Agentic Autonomous Internet,” moving more high-frequency interactions off-chain while using the chain to confirm state changes and prevent double spending. The article says the concept is more developed than some other examples, but adds that there was still no testnet or ecosystem rollout mentioned at the time referenced.
The article’s core claim is about liquidity, not product maturity
The source does not claim every AI deal is weak. It cites RoboForce, which raised $52 million on March 17 led by YZi Labs, as a case tied to physical AI and robotics rather than crypto branding. It also names Kled, which raised $5.5 million on March 11, and VeryAI, which raised $10 million on March 12, as projects with real products, ecosystem activity, and delivery.
Its final argument is sharper: some crypto VCs may be buying the liquidity of the term “AI” more than proven AI execution. In that framing, founders package themselves around the AI narrative, investors deploy capital into the theme, and both sides aim to capture market attention long before product-market fit is settled.