Kite raises US$18 million in Series A…agentic web infrastructure expansion in earnest

Global blockchain venture capital firm Hashed, which participated in the seed investment, said that Agentic Web infrastructure company Kite (Agentic Web: a next-generation internet platform where AI agents, not humans, autonomously verify identity, transact, and operate) has raised US$18 million (approximately KRW 25.2 billion) in a Series A round. On the 3rd (local time), Kite officially announced the investment and stated that its total funding has reached US$33 million (approximately KRW 46 billion).

The round was co-led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from 8VC, Samsung Next, Alumni Ventures, SBI Holdings' "SBI US Gate Fund," Vertex Ventures, Dispersion Capital, Avalanche Foundation, GSR Markets, LayerZero, HashKey Capital, Animoca Brands, Essence VC, Alchemy, and others.

Kite recently unveiled a dedicated architecture for autonomous agents called "Kite AIR (Kite Agent Identity Resolution)." Kite AIR is a platform designed to allow agents to prove identity in the real world, conduct transactions, and operate independently, and includes programmable identity, stablecoin-based payments, and automated policy enforcement features. All processes take place on a blockchain designed to be agent-friendly, and the service is offered around two pillars: the "Agent Passport" and the "Agent App Store." The passport functions as a digital passport that verifies an agent's identity and contains operational guidelines, while the app store serves as a marketplace where various services such as APIs, data, and commerce tools can be browsed and purchased.

Kite AIR is currently integrated with major commerce platforms such as Shopify and PayPal, allowing sellers to join the agent shopping network via APIs. Payments and settlements are processed using blockchain-based stablecoins, and the entire transaction process is transparently traceable and securely managed with programmable permissions. Kite plans to expand business collaborations into commerce, finance, and data platforms to support autonomous agents moving beyond experimental stages to operate in real ecosystems.

Chi Zhang, Kite co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), said, "From the beginning, we believed autonomous agents would become the core user interface (UI) of the future digital economy, and for that we needed structured, verifiable data," adding, "Current human-centered systems are rigid and vulnerable for numerous agents to perform small-value transactions at machine speed, and Kite AIR can address this problem based on identity, trust, and programmable payments."

Marc Bhargava, managing director at General Catalyst, evaluated that "Kite is doing fundamental work that could set the standard for future agent operations and is laying the rails for a machine-to-machine economy."

Steve Everett, head of PayPal's global market development for crypto and digital assets, emphasized, "The combination of Kite's trust infrastructure and regulated stablecoins will create unprecedented opportunities," adding, "A high-performance blockchain protocol capable of smart-contract-based simultaneous, atomic payments and real-time traceability and auditing will be the 'killer combination' to realize programmable payments."