Pheasant Raises $2M for AI Intent

In December 2025, the decentralized interoperability protocol Pheasant Network raised $2 million in a Seed funding round. The investment was led by mint, with strategic support from the Ethereum Foundation, Optimism Foundation, and Polygon Labs.

The company is led by CEO Tomo. Pheasant Network is positioning itself at the frontier of DeFAI (Decentralized Finance + AI), building the infrastructure for “intelligent interoperability” across the fragmented Ethereum ecosystem.

As blockchain networks scale into a multi-chain “sea” of Layer 2s and Layer 3s, users face a manual complexity crisis. Pheasant addresses this with its proprietary AIntent system, which fuses Artificial Intelligence with the ERC-7683 intent standard. Instead of users manually selecting routes, the platform’s AI agents evaluate trade-offs in real-time to optimize for cost, speed, and security. This shifts the bridging experience from manual execution to “automated outcome delivery,” enabling both humans and autonomous AI agents to move liquidity seamlessly across 30+ networks.

The new capital will be used to launch AI-assisted routing, automated yield flows, and to expand the utility of its native PNT token as the primary fuel for the DeFAI economy.

Market Signal

• The “Intent-Centric” AI Layer: This round validates that the future of Web3 is “Agentic.” Pheasant is not just building a bridge; it is building the decision-making engine for the next generation of AI Agents that need to move value across chains without human intervention.
• Foundation-Level Backing: Securing support from the Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon foundations simultaneously is a rare trifecta. This signals that Pheasant’s AI-driven approach is seen as the de facto standard for unifying the Ethereum roadmap’s fragmented liquidity.
• The Efficiency Moat: By utilizing “Optimistic Proofs” combined with AI routing, Pheasant achieves a cost-to-performance ratio that ZK-based alternatives currently cannot match. This makes it the preferred infrastructure for high-frequency DeFi operations and machine-to-machine (M2M) payments.

Key Details

• Company: Pheasant Network
• Funding: $2M Seed
• Headquarters: Distributed
• Lead Investor: mint
• CEO: Tomo
• Use Case: AI-powered intent routing and DeFAI interoperability