Catena Labs, the startup founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville, has closed a $30 million Series A funding round aimed at building regulated financial infrastructure specifically designed for AI agents. The round was led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto.
What Catena Labs is actually building
The company is developing what it calls “governed infrastructure” for AI agent financial transactions: tools that let AI agents execute payments and other financial operations within a framework of rules, permissions, and audit trails. The platform is currently invite-only and includes features that let users define rules governing how their AI agents can interact with financial systems.
Catena isn’t just building software, though. The company has filed for a New York State Trust Bank Charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That’s a significant regulatory move that would position Catena as an actual chartered financial institution, not just a fintech startup riding on partner bank relationships.
The money and the backers
