GAIB, a crypto-AI startup focused on tokenizing GPUs, has raised $5 million in a pre-seed funding round.

Hack VC led the round, with co-leads Faction VC and Hashed, GAIB said Tuesday. Other participating investors included Spartan, Animoca Brands, MH Ventures, Aethir, Near Foundation, Chris Yin of Plume Network and Lucas Kozinski of Renzo Protocol.

GAIB was founded in June of this year, began raising funds the same month and closed the round in July, co-founder and CEO Kony Kwong told The Block. Kwong currently also serves as a venture partner at L2 Iterative Ventures and previously worked as an investment analyst for Huobi Global's strategic mergers and acquisitions team.

GAIB's pre-seed funding round was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, Kwong said. He declined to disclose the post-round valuation or whether any investors have taken advisory or directorial board seats.

GAIB is a crypto-AI platform under development that aims to tokenize GPUs, making AI computing — the computational power needed to train and run AI models — more accessible. AI computing is often provided by GPUs and other hardware resources, and GAIB seeks to unlock the liquidity of these traditionally illiquid assets.

"The idea for GAIB originates from the growing demand for accessible, scalable AI compute resources and the need to unlock the liquidity of traditionally illiquid GPU assets," Kwong said.

The name GAIB is inspired by the movie Dune, which translates to "the unseen" or "the future," Kwong said, adding that just as spice is central to Dune, GPUs are the new assets, and compute is the new currency in the AI era. The name also reflects the startup's focus on three core areas: GPU, AI and financialization, Kwong said.

GAIB's platform will allow AI cloud companies to "stake" their GPUs. These GPUs will then be tokenized, enabling investors to buy them in the form of fungible tokens. Investors can hold these tokenized GPU assets for yields and rewards or use them in various DeFi applications, such as lending, borrowing, options, futures, structured products, and even GPU-backed stablecoins, Kwong said.

Tokenizing GPUs lowers the barriers to investment, letting anyone — from individuals to institutions — participate in the GPU economy without needing to manage physical hardware or complex infrastructure, according to Kwong.

GAIB has completed its prototype and is preparing for a pilot launch later this month, with an alpha product launch planned within the next two months, Kwong said. The GAIB token will also be launched following the product release, he added. 

The GAIB platform will be deployed on multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, Plume, Monad, Movement, Berachain, Optimism, Arbitrum, Mantle, Avalanche Zircuit and Polygon, Kwong said.

Currently, 19 people work for Singapore-based GAIB, and Kwong plans to expand the team across marketing, operations and research and development functions.

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