ai16z partners with Ryze Labs to launch AICombinator with $5M fund

Key Takeaways

• ai16z and Ryze Labs launch AICombinator with $5M funding to support developers creating AI-crypto projects, leveraging the Eliza framework.
• ai16z is the first venture capital firm run by AI agents, revolutionizing decision-making through platforms like daos.fun.

ai16z and Ryze Labs announced the launch of their AICombinator program with a $5 million fund to support developers building at the intersection of AI and crypto.

The program offers project founders early access to ai16z’s Eliza framework, a tool for building interactive AI characters that integrate with Discord and Twitter, commonly used for developing crypto AI agents.

ai16z, the first venture capital firm run by AI agents, was established recently after the success of AI meme coins.

Users can engage with the ai16z platform through daos.fun, a fundraising tool that allows creators to raise SOL tokens for investment in Solana protocols or tokens, with the funds managed by AI agents.

“The rise of AI agents using crypto rails marks the biggest shift since onchain DeFi in 2020,” said Matthew Graham, Managing Partner of Ryze Labs. “ai16z is leading the charge, and we’re excited to back their growing ecosystem with investments in AI-crypto projects,” Graham added.

Joven Wu, Principal at Ryze Labs, expressed admiration for the initiative’s vision, highlighting ai16z’s goal of enabling anyone to launch their own AI agents that can learn, grow, adapt to various situations, perform tasks, and master skills.

Shaw, a partner at ai16z, described the program as a monumental step forward. “AICombinator is gonna be huge,” Shaw said.

“Our goal is to accelerate decentralized AI, find the most talented devs in the space, resource them with capital and attention, and give them a playbook so they can live comfy and build without having to dump tokens.”

Ryze Labs has previously invested in notable web3 projects including Solana, LayerZero, Polygon, and Wintermute.