Hassan Maishera
YeagerAI announced on Wednesday, August 21st, that they have successfully closed a $7.5 million seed round led by North Island Ventures for its AI-powered Intelligent Blockchain, GenLayer.
In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the team said the round saw participation from world-class web3 VCs, including Node Capital, Arrington Capital, TykheBlock, ZK Ventures, Cogitent, MS2 Capital, Samara AG, DCF Capital, WAGMI Ventures, Sigmas Capital, Magnus Capital, MH Ventures, BlockBuilders, and multiple angel investors.
GenLayer will use the funds to build the next evolution of smart contracts powered by artificial intelligence. The project is also supported by industry veterans, including Arthur Hayes and his family office investment fund, Maelstrom, further strengthening the project's expert network and connectivity in the web3 industry.
According to the team, GenLayer is the first Intelligent Blockchain, enabling smart contracts to use Large Language Models (LLMs) to access the Internet’s knowledge to make complex decisions in a decentralized manner, known as Intelligent Contracts.
Intelligent Contracts are unique as they can natively connect to the Internet, process natural language, and handle non-deterministic operations. Thus, they enable a whole new generation of decentralized protocols and primitives that are not possible under the limitations of the current blockchain infrastructure.
While commenting on this funding round, Travis Scher, Partner at North Island Ventures, said:
"GenLayer is leveraging recent advances in AI to bring more of the internet onchain, enabling improvements in today's dApps and unlocking entirely new possibilities. We're thrilled to support Albert and his team in their mission."
Amos Meiri, Founding Partner at Node Capital, added that,
“Some of the core limitations the industry faces stem from the need for humans in the loop and lack of access to real-world data. GenLayer solves this by leveraging AI and opening the door to completely new use cases. We’re excited to support the team on this adventure.”
The GenLayer network comprises a Consensus Layer and a Virtual Machine and leverages AI to achieve consensus on subjective tasks through a unique mechanism called Optimistic Democracy.
Its delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPOS) system involves a randomly selected subset of five validators, each connected to a different LLM. The selected leader proposes an output, which the other four validators compare against their own results, voting on whether to accept.
Once there is a majority agreement, the transaction is processed; if not, a new leader is chosen. An appeal window follows validation, allowing participants to post a bond and double the validator set for a re-evaluation.
GenLayer differs from regular blockchains as it enables Intelligent Contract executions that can vary, using an equivalence principle defined by the application developer to ensure trust and transparency.
Albert Castellana, Co-Founder and CEO of GenLayer, stated that,
“I believe GenLayer will be a zero-to-one innovation, and we’re grateful to all our investors for sharing our vision. Using Artificial Intelligence to enable consensus on subjective decisions will massively expand the design space for truly decentralized applications.”
GenLayer is the first Intelligent Blockchain, enabling smart contracts to use AI models and access the Internet’s knowledge to make complex decisions in a decentralized manner: Intelligent Contracts. Intelligent Contracts can natively connect to the Internet, process natural language, and handle non-deterministic operations, enabling a whole new generation of smart contract logic that is not possible under the limitations of current blockchain infrastructure.
