San Francisco-based t54 Labs has secured $5 million in seed funding to develop identity and risk infrastructure for AI agents operating in financial markets. The round was led by Anagram, PL Capital, and Franklin Templeton, with strategic participation from Ripple, alongside Virtuals Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, and ABCDE. Founder Chandler Fang confirmed that no investor received a board or advisory seat, and the company has not disclosed its valuation. This marks t54’s first external capital raise.
The funding will support engineering expansion, product acceleration, and deeper institutional partnerships. Currently employing 12 people, t54 plans to hire three additional team members, including two engineers. The company aims to address a growing gap in financial systems as autonomous AI agents increasingly execute payments and treasury operations. According to Fang, traditional financial rails were built for human identity verification and lack standards tailored to AI-driven transactions.
t54 Labs is building a “trust layer” for the emerging agentic economy. Its infrastructure introduces a “know your agent” framework that verifies developer credentials, model provenance, human-agent relationships, and intent attestation. The platform also includes a real-time risk engine that analyzes behavioral data, code audits, device context, and operational mandates to flag suspicious activity before transactions are completed.
In addition, t54 plans to underwrite agent-native credit lines based on verified identity, transaction history, and behavioral signals. By combining identity verification, risk monitoring, and settlement processes into a unified operational layer, the company aims to make AI-powered financial transactions secure and scalable.
Blockchain technology plays a key role in t54’s infrastructure. The platform operates across Ripple’s XRP Ledger, Solana, and Base, while remaining payment rail-agnostic. It also developed x402-secure, an open-source trust layer supporting Coinbase’s x402 agent payment protocol. Recently, t54 partnered with Evernorth, a Ripple-backed digital asset treasury firm managing over $1 billion in institutional XRP holdings.
As AI agents gain traction — 42% of U.S. consumers would allow AI to shop on their behalf, according to YouGov — demand for secure digital identity and risk infrastructure is accelerating. With Ripple and Franklin Templeton backing its vision, t54 Labs is positioning itself at the forefront of AI agent finance and blockchain-based verification systems.
