Sentient's platform will be built on Polygon, representing an expansion of the Ethereum scaler into AI.
The round was co-led by Pantera Capital and Framework Ventures.

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Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund has co-led a huge $85 million seed round investment in open-source AI development platform Sentient.

Sentient's platform will be built on Polygon, representing an expansion of the Ethereum scaler into AI. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is one of Sentient's core contributors.

The project aims to address concerns about the proliferation of AI whereby the underlying code is concentrated in the hands of a few superpowers like Google or Meta.

Open-source code is that which is shared publicly allowing anyone to use it and is something of a backbone of the blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

"By building an open platform for AGI development, we aim to ensure that the benefits of AI are distributed equitably and that its development aligns with the interests of humanity as a whole," Nailwal said in an emailed announcement on Tuesday.

Sentient will enter the testnet phase this quarter., using the funds from this seed round to develop its platform and attract talent from AI research and blockchain engineering to its team.

The round was co-led by Pantera Capital and Framework Ventures and included participation from multiple other high-profile investors such as Robot Ventures, Delphi, Republic, and Arrington Capital.

Thiel's Founders Fund and Thiel Capital participated in a 2021 funding round for the Bullish group, which two years later acquired CoinDesk.

UPDATE (July 15, 2024, 19:15 UTC): Adds disclosure of Thiel's past connection to CoinDesk's parent.

Edited by Parikshit Mishra.

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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.