Olas Secures $13.8M to Launch Pearl, the First AI Agent App Store
Olas, a pioneering AI agent platform in the crypto space, has announced a major $13.8 million funding round led by 1kx to fuel the launch of Pearl, the world’s first “agent app store,” aimed at democratizing access to user-owned AI agents. The funding round attracted a distinguished group of investors, including Tioga Capital, Sigil Fund, Zee Prime Capital, Spaceship DAO, Metropolis DAO, very early Ventures, Borderless, ARKN Ventures, Generative Ventures, Keyrock, Perridon Ventures, and SMAPE Capital. Additionally, notable angel investors, including Leonid Mindyuk, co-founder of ML Tech, participated in the round, further validating Olas’ position at the forefront of AI-driven blockchain applications. Transforming AI Ownership with Pearl Olas has demonstrated strong growth in its AI agent ecosystem, with its autonomous agents currently processing over 700,000 transactions per month—a number that continues to rise at a rate of 30% month-over-month. To date, the platform has facilitated over 3.5 million transactions across nine blockchains, with over 2 million agent-to-agent transactions spanning use cases like DeFAI (via Modius), social influencer agents (via Agents.Fun), and prediction markets (via Olas Predict). Also read: Olas Predict: Revolutionizing Future Predictions with Decentralized AI The latter caught the attention of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who remarked that such agents would become “ubiquitous” in prediction markets. Pearl is a desktop application that enables true ownership of AI agents, unlike traditional AI platforms hosted on centralized web2 infrastructure. This revolutionary model allows users to deploy AI-driven applications, including autonomous trading bots, social media agents, and DeFi execution strategies, while maintaining full on-chain control over their AI. “Pearl’s agent app store represents a significant step forward in democratizing access to AI agents,” said David Minarsch, CEO of Olas’ core contributor. “By giving everyone AI agents they can not only use, but fully own and customize, we’re turning the status quo on its head. At a time when advances in AI can seem increasingly daunting, Olas is uniquely giving control of AI back to the user.” Olas Accelerator to Boost Developer Adoption To further cement its leadership in crypto-native AI agents, Olas has also launched the Olas Accelerator program, which will distribute up to $1 million in grants and OLAS token rewards to developers building innovative AI agents on its platform. Individual teams can receive up to $100,000, along with OLAS tokens, for creating high-quality agents available via Pearl. This initiative is designed to attract top-tier developers and expand the ecosystem of AI-powered blockchain applications. Also read: OLAS Quietly Emerges as the Leading AI-to-AI Transaction Network in Blockchain Pioneering the Future of AI and Blockchain Olas’ rise in the AI agent sector is fueled by its two-pronged approach: the Olas Stack, which empowers developers to build autonomous AI agents, and the Olas Protocol, which incentivizes their creation and co-ownership. The recent introduction of Olas Staking and its novel Proof of Active Agent mechanism allows users to earn rewards based on their AI agents’ activity, fostering greater engagement within the Olas ecosystem. The project’s expansion has caught the attention of leading DeFi builders. James Ross, CEO of Mode, highlighted the platform’s impact, stating: “AI agents are central to our DeFi mass adoption strategy. We’re excited to be building on the leading AI agent network, with Olas Modius launching on the platform.” Also read: Valory Unveils Olas Predict at Devcon: A New Era of AI-Driven Prediction Markets As Olas continues to scale its AI-driven agent economies, Pearl is set to redefine how AI is integrated into blockchain networks—putting powerful, user-owned AI agents into the hands of individuals and businesses alike.