CMT Digital leads $2.5 million pre-seed round for autonomous agent network developer Axal

Axal, a firm building a verifiable autonomous agent network, announced on Thursday that it raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding. 

CMT Digital led the round, with further support from a16z Crypto Startup School, Escape Velocity, IDG Vietnam, Artichoke Capital, Trident Digital, Blockchain Builders Fund, Blockhunters Group, Echo and the Mentat Group, among numerous angel investors, according to a release shared with The Block. Axal will use the funds to grow its current team of five employees. 

On Thursday, the firm launched its agent-powered trading automation platform Axal Autopilot, which lets crypto holders create a personalized trading strategy that helps track prices, execute onchain swaps and manage yield. 

"Web3 agents are having a moment right now, but it's easy to get lost in a sea of projects. Axal is laser focused on making agents verifiable to actually do meaningful tasks — not just creating a token or providing entertainment, but making our lives easier through automation," Axal Founder Ash Ahmed told The Block in an email. 

Axal's pre-seed funding round follows previous venture capital interest in autonomous agents. The startup Skyfire raised a total of $9.5 million in strategic funding to develop infrastructure for AI agents to autonomously make crypto-based or fiat payments, The Block previously reported.