Perceptron, a decentralized AI data network, has announced the successful close of a $6.5 million strategic funding round. The investment brings together leading Web3 investors, trading firms, ecosystem partners, and infrastructure leaders, including Sigma Capital, Selini Capital, QCP Capital, P2 Ventures, CoinDCX Ventures, Momentum6, DeFi Capital, Walrus Foundation, Aethir, Colosseum, GuruDev Capital, Tempo Finance, NewTribe Capital, Digital Consensus Fund, and CodeCraft Capital.
The funding will support the launch of Perceptron’s data-questing platform, expand contributor tooling and rewards infrastructure, and scale the network toward a target of 5 million nodes. The company aims to make sourcing real-world data fast and accessible enough that AI companies no longer need centralized scraping infrastructure.
Perceptron’s network compresses global data collection into a single mesh of idle bandwidth, unique datasets, and domain expertise. This unified format allows both individual contributors and AI companies to generate complete, verified datasets, reducing the timeline from data request to delivered dataset to just days.
Perceptron sits between two extremes: centralized scraping tools that are too limited, and closed data partnerships that demand access most AI startups lack. It gives AI companies and everyday contributors data they can work with directly. Contributors own their data and earnings, allowing them to monetize or withdraw at any time without depending on third parties. The platform is built for continuous contribution and constant iteration, not a one-time scrape.
The launch of the data-questing platform is central to delivering on this promise at scale. Rather than relying only on organically contributed data, Perceptron enables AI companies to commission data directly from its community. This approach shortens the timeline to sourcing high-value datasets and allows the team to focus resources on community tooling and rewards infrastructure.
Early traction demonstrates strong demand. In its first phase, live agents reached more than 200,000 users across communities like Telegram and Discord. That number has since grown to more than 300,000 daily active users across a network of over 700,000 nodes. These figures highlight a large audience of users who want to monetize their data and expertise but previously lacked infrastructure designed for them.
Nathan Gurr, Investment Analyst at P2 Ventures, said: “Perceptron has demonstrated an impressive ability to mobilize a decentralized workforce and build a globally distributed network. Their model allows them to tap into niche expertise – from doctors and lawyers to native speakers – on demand, from anywhere in the world. We see a significant opportunity to turn that reach into a scalable data and intelligence layer for AI, positioning Perceptron to become a leader in the DeAI stack.”
Mark Rydon, Co-Founder of Aethir, added: “We are witnessing a long-term shift in how AI models are trained. Centralized data scraping is hitting diminishing returns, both in terms of cost and quality. Perceptron has solved the distribution problem that plagues the sector.”
Peter Anthony, Co-founder and CEO of Perceptron, said: “Our mission is to create the world’s first decentralized AI data mesh where user interactions directly fuel AI growth. We’ve already shown that mission can become a reality, as evidenced by our ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of nodes organically. Now, with this funding, we are launching our data-questing platform, which will allow AI companies to commission specific, high-value datasets directly from our community.”
Perceptron’s near-term focus is the data-questing platform launch, with further announcements expected next quarter. Longer term, the company is building toward a fully integrated network of 5 million nodes, where everything an AI company needs lives in one place, with no gap between demand and supply.
