AEON raises $8m in pre-seed round led by YZi Labs

By Aarav Garg

Hong Kong-based AEON has raised $8 million in a pre-seed funding round led by YZi Labs, with participation from investors including IDG Capital and HashKey Capital.

The company is positioning itself as a settlement layer for what it describes as the “agentic economy”, where AI agents can independently execute transactions, access services and settle payments. The funding will be used to expand AEON’s infrastructure and support development of payment rails linking agent-to-agent transactions with real-world merchant settlement.

“AEON is not just bridging AI and real-world commerce, we are building the settlement layer the agentic economy inherently requires,” said Eddie Li, CEO and co-founder of AEON. “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. This funding empowers us to accelerate that mission, advancing our settlement layer built for AI, and deepening collaboration with ecosystem partners like Coinbase and BNB Chain.”

AEON said that it had launched its first AI payment product earlier this month, allowing AI agents to conduct on-chain payments and connect to merchant networks globally. The company is also working with Coinbase through the x402 protocol, which is designed to integrate payments directly into internet-based interactions and APIs.

The startup recently partnered with BNB Chain to launch an x402 Facilitator built on BNB infrastructure. According to the company, the system is intended to support verifiable transactions, on-chain settlement and automated payment flows for AI-driven services.

The broader market opportunity reflects growing interest in infrastructure that enables AI systems to transact autonomously. For FinTech firms, the shift could create demand for programmable settlement, machine-to-machine payments, digital identity verification and compliance tools capable of supporting high-frequency autonomous transactions. The sector remains early-stage, but investors are increasingly exploring how payment networks and financial infrastructure may evolve as AI agents become more integrated into commerce and online services.