Sean Neville, who cofounded the stablecoin giant Circle, has raised another stash of capital from top-flight venture capitalists. His startup Catena Labs, which builds tools to allow AI agents to safely conduct financial transactions, announced Wednesday that it’s secured $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Acrew Capital and the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto).
Neville declined to specify at what valuation he raised the capital for his newest startup, which drummed up an initial round of $18 million led by a16z crypto in 2025. Other participants in the more recent fundraise include Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, and QED.
On Wednesday, Catena Labs also announced that it’s applying for a national trust bank charter in New York from the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as the company seeks regulatory backing to process payments and hold customers’ money.
“The majority, if not all initial transactions, will be executed by agents,” Neville predicted in an interview with Fortune.
Agentic finance
