Aeon raises $8M to build settlement layer for AI agents

Aeon raised $8 million in a pre-seed funding round led by YZi Labs, the company announced Monday. Other participants included IDG Capital, HashKey Capital, Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund and Oak Grove Ventures. The startup did not disclose the round’s structure or a post-money valuation.

The company said it will use the funding to build a settlement layer to support payments and value exchange between autonomous AI agents. Aeon launched its first AI payment product in May, which the company says lets AI agents connect with more than 50 million real-world merchants worldwide.

Aeon also reported a partnership with BNB Chain to introduce the x402 Facilitator, a product built natively on BNB Chain infrastructure. The tool is designed to enable verifiable transactions, onchain settlement and immutable receipts for service providers within the BNB ecosystem. Aeon described the product as supporting machine-to-machine payments and providing auditable records for services exchanged between AI agents and human-run businesses.

Eddie Li, Aeon’s CEO and co-founder, said, “As production relations shift toward an economy powered by autonomous agents and value exchange between AIs, we believe a settlement layer built for the agentic economy will emerge and this economic paradigm needs its own financial foundation.” He added the new capital will let the company accelerate development of its settlement layer and deepen collaborations with partners including Coinbase and BNB Chain.

Investors in the round include venture firms and crypto-focused funds that have previously backed blockchain and payments technology. Aeon did not provide a timeline for additional product rollouts beyond the existing AI payment offering and the planned x402 Facilitator deployment on BNB Chain.

A settlement layer records and finalizes transactions, often using blockchain technology to provide transparency and immutable records. Aeon positions its layer to handle agent-to-agent interactions by offering verified payment flows, receipts and onchain settlement records that could be used by autonomous software agents, service providers and merchants.

The announcement comes as firms in the crypto sector explore integrating AI capabilities into trading, payments and other services. Aeon said it will continue product development and partner integrations to expand merchant networks and support machine-initiated commerce.