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Spark Capital leads token round as Antseed brings an open, decentralized market model to AI compute
[October 6, 2026] – Antseed, an open peer-to-peer market for AI inference, today announced the launch of its platform alongside a $2.4 million token round for the nonprofit Antseed Foundation. The round was led by Spark Capital, an early investor in Anthropic, with participation from Collider, DCG, North Island Ventures, Reciprocal Ventures, Relay Capital, and Venice.ai.
Antseed applies the Web3 model of open, peer-to-peer markets to AI inference. Instead of accessing AI models exclusively through centralized providers or aggregators, developers can route requests across hundreds of independent providers competing directly on price, performance, reputation, model capability, and privacy.
Providers can run models on their own hardware or offer compute capacity they already hold, set their own prices, and compete for demand. Developers access the network through a self-hosted local router, without requiring a central Antseed account or platform-issued API key. Leading models are currently available through the marketplace at prices up to 97% below their official APIs.
The network’s native token, ANTS, is designed to reward eligible network usage and allow participants to stake behind AI providers. Rewards increase with eligible usage and staking commitments, giving both providers and buyers an incentive to bring more activity and liquidity to the marketplace. Providers can earn more as they serve greater demand and attract stake, while buyers can earn rewards based on their usage and participation in the network.
The launch comes as AI inference becomes an increasingly significant infrastructure market. Gartner projects worldwide spending on AI cloud infrastructure will grow 96% to $42 billion in 2026, while Stripe recently agreed to acquire centralized AI model aggregator OpenRouter for more than $7 billion.
“What BitTorrent did for files, Antseed is doing for AI inference, with no central server and no company deciding who gets access or what it costs,” said Amos Meiri, co-founder of Antseed. “As agents make more model calls and inference becomes a material operating cost, developers need a simple way to route each request based on price, performance, capability and privacy.”
As of September 2026, independent on-chain analytics show the network has processed nearly 150 billion tokens across 202 active sellers, with more than $285,000 settled on the Base blockchain to date.
“Inference is becoming to AI businesses what fuel is to airlines, a core operating cost that companies need to manage as they scale, and right now a handful of companies control the wells,” said Santo Politi, Co-Founder and General Partner at Spark Capital. “Antseed is the counterweight to that centralized control, serving as a decentralized, open market that gives developers the freedom to choose how they source compute, while creating a direct market for providers to compete.”
Antseed is an open peer-to-peer market for AI inference. Its locally run router enables developers to access a network of independent AI inference providers through a compatible endpoint, with routing based on user-defined priorities including price, performance, reliability, and privacy. Antseed is building infrastructure intended to make AI inference more open, competitive, and accessible for developers and providers. Learn more at antseed.com
