Kite has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round co-led by General Catalyst and PayPal Ventures. This investment brings the company's total funding to $33 million and is aimed at developing infrastructure for autonomous AI agents to transact using stablecoins.

The capital infusion underscores a growing strategic focus on building the financial plumbing for a future machine-to-machine economy. As AI agents become more sophisticated, their ability to perform commercial tasks is limited by the absence of a native payment layer. Kite aims to solve this by providing the tools for AI agents to hold funds, connect to various marketplaces, and execute payments with on-chain settlement, effectively creating a transactional backbone for artificial intelligence.

This move by major venture firms signals a strong belief in the convergence of AI and financial technology. By embedding payment capabilities directly into AI agents, Kite is positioning itself at the forefront of a new wave of automated commerce, potentially unlocking novel business models where machines are the primary economic actors. The development indicates a shift from consumer-facing applications to the foundational infrastructure that will power the next generation of digital enterprise.