PayPal Backs the Future: Inside Kite’s $18M Bet on an AI-Powered Internet

The Next Digital Gold Rush: Where AI Meets Crypto

Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are the two undisputed heavyweights of modern technology, each promising to revolutionize our world. While many startups have tried to mash them together, the results have often felt more like a forced marriage than a true partnership. But that narrative is changing. A new startup, Kite, has just secured a massive vote of confidence from some of the biggest names in finance and venture capital, signaling a pivotal moment for the future of the internet.

Kite, a company building a foundational blockchain for AI-to-AI communication, has officially announced an $18 million Series A funding round. The investment was co-led by two giants: PayPal Ventures, the venture arm of the global payments leader, and General Catalyst, a top-tier venture capital firm. This brings Kite’s total funding to an impressive $33 million and validates its mission to build the rails for a new “agentic internet.”

What is the ‘Agentic Internet’ and Why Does It Need a Blockchain?

To understand what Kite is building, we need to look beyond today’s AI chatbots. The next evolution is AI agents—autonomous programs designed to perform specific tasks on our behalf. Imagine an AI agent that can not only find the best price for a product online but can also negotiate with a seller’s AI agent and complete the purchase securely, all without your direct intervention.

This is the vision of the agentic internet. As Kite’s CEO and co-founder, Chi Zhang, explains, the future of online shopping won’t require us to browse Amazon or Shopify. Instead, it will be automated. “We won’t need to leave, let’s say, Perplexity, or ChatGPT,” she envisions.

But this future presents a critical challenge: trust. How can one AI agent trust another? How does your shopping agent know it’s dealing with a legitimate agent from Amazon and not a scammer? This is where the existing infrastructure falls short.

Alan Du, a partner at PayPal Ventures, noted that agent-level activity has been “very small and experimental.” He emphasized that “a lot more infrastructure level building… still needs to happen” for agents to become a transformative force. This is precisely the problem Kite, formerly known as Zettablock, is solving.

Kite’s Solution: A Trust Layer for Autonomous Machines

Kite is building the foundational trust layer for this new internet, using the inherent strengths of blockchain technology. A blockchain is a decentralized, unchangeable database that no single entity controls, making it the perfect tool for creating a neutral ground where AI agents can interact securely.

Here’s what Kite’s infrastructure provides:

• Cryptographic Identity: Think of it as a digital passport for every AI agent and human, proving they are who they say they are. This prevents spoofing and fraud.
• Programmable Rules: A clear, enforceable set of rules governing how agents can interact and transact, ensuring fair and predictable behavior.
• Instant Stablecoin Payments: A native payment system that allows agents to exchange value instantly and securely at machine speed.

This entire system is being built using infrastructure from Avalanche, a high-performance blockchain known for its speed and scalability—qualities essential for an internet powered by millions of autonomous agents transacting every second.

Why PayPal’s Involvement is a Game-Changer

The fact that PayPal Ventures is co-leading this round is a monumental signal. As one of the world’s largest payment companies, PayPal’s investment is a powerful endorsement of Kite’s vision for the future of digital transactions. It suggests that the future of commerce won’t just be between people, but between machines—and it will need a new, decentralized payment and identity layer to function.

This isn’t just a speculative bet; it’s a strategic move. The successful execution of Kite’s <$18M Bet> on this new frontier, backed by industry leaders like General Catalyst, Samsung Next, and 8VC, could lay the groundwork for the next paradigm shift in how we use the internet—moving from a web-based, to a mobile-first, and now to an AI agent-first world.

The Road Ahead

While the concept of an internet run by autonomous AI agents might sound like science fiction, the foundational bricks are being laid today. With $33 million in total funding and the backing of financial and tech titans, Kite is not just participating in the conversation about AI and crypto; it’s building the core infrastructure that could finally make the combination work at scale.

As CEO Chi Zhang puts it, “I’m very excited about the future, rather than worried about competition at the moment, because it’s just at the very beginning of the agentic era.” For the rest of us, it’s a clear sign to pay close attention. The next version of the internet is under construction.