Privacy-focused AI startup Venice AI has raised $65 million in a Series A round at a $1 billion valuation, marking its first external fundraise. The round was led by Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, North Island Ventures, and others. Venice says it already has 3 million active users, 850,000+ unique website visitors, and processes around 1.7 million API calls per day. The company positions itself as an “uncensored” AI platform, offering access to more than 200 models while keeping user data private. CEO Erik Voorhees said Venice is built as a neutral tool, similar to Bitcoin’s open protocol philosophy. Venice plans to use the new capital to buy GPUs and build its own data centers, improving margins and reducing reliance on leased infrastructure. The startup also has two tokens, VVV and DIEM, though Voorhees said only about 8% of users pay with crypto.