AI Infrastructure Firm Gradient Bags $10 Million to Establish Protocols on Solana

Gradient Network closed a $10 million seed funding round to build what it calls a decentralized AI infrastructure stack, with venture firms Pantera Capital and Multicoin Capital leading the financial investment together with HSG (formerly Sequoia Capital China). The Singapore-based startup plans to use the funds to develop two core protocols– Lattica and Parallax– that would allow artificial intelligence models to run across a distributed network of devices rather than in centralized data.

The company stated both protocols will debut this week. “We believe intelligence should be a public good, not a corporate asset,” Eric Yang, co-founder of Gradient Network, said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “This round gives us the momentum to build infrastructure that brings decentralization to the heart of AI.” The timing comes as AI companies face increasing criticism over data privacy and the concentration of computational power among a few tech giants.

Gradient’s approach aims to utilize unused processing power from smartphones, computers, and other devices to create what could essentially be the equivalent of a global, crowdsourced supercomputer. Lattica acts as a peer-to-peer data communication protocol like Bitcoin or BitTorrent– think of it as plumbing that moves information between devices without passing through central servers. The company mentioned that its network of “Sentry Nodes” has already facilitated over 1.6 billion connections across more than 190 regions.

Road to Lattica

Over the past months, our Sentry Node community helped run one of the world’s largest decentralized connectivity experiments with over 1.6 billion peer-to-peer connections made across 190+ locations. Today, that network evolves into Lattica. — Gradient Network (@Gradient_HQ) June 19, 2025

Decentralizing AI

Parallax addresses the challenge of running massive AI models without massive data. The protocol breaks down large language models into smaller segments that can run concurrently across multiple devices. Instead of sending data to OpenAI’s or Amazon’s servers for processing, Parallax would enable the computation to occur on a network of participating devices, keeping user data local.

Gradient Network runs on Solana’s blockchain, chosen for its high transaction speeds and low costs compared to other networks. The blockchain handles the coordination and payment systems for devices contributing computing power to the network. The startup joins a growing field of companies striving to decentralize AI infrastructure. Competitors include SingularityNET, which focuses on building a marketplace for AI services, the Superintelligence Alliance network, and various projects developing on different blockchains.

Gradient mentioned it will release additional protocols beyond Lattica and Parallax, although it hasn’t specified what these might include. The company also cited plans to publish research papers and open channels for developers to contribute to the project. Edited by James Rubin