Venice AI just closed a $65 million Series A that values the company at $1 billion. The round, led by Dragonfly with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Morgan Creek Digital, gives investors an 8.98% equity stake in the company. Those same investors also received a vesting grant of 1.5 million VVV tokens and warrants for an additional 5 million tokens stretched over eight years.

A hybrid model that forces alignment

The structure is deliberate. Venice, co-founded by crypto veteran Erik Voorhees, is attempting to solve one of the more persistent headaches in crypto-native companies: the disconnect between people who own equity and people who hold the token. By giving equity investors a meaningful allocation of VVV tokens, subject to a one-year lock-up period, the company is betting that aligned incentives will produce better outcomes for everyone.

The burn strategy

Venice has been running a revenue-based buy-and-burn program for VVV since late 2025. The mechanics are straightforward: the company uses a portion of its revenue to purchase VVV tokens on the open market and then permanently removes them from circulation.

Venice has already burned more than 40% of the total VVV supply, including a significant airdrop burn of 33.5 million tokens. The company currently holds over 30 million VVV tokens, roughly 37% of total supply, and has stated it does not plan to sell those treasury tokens.

In April 2026, Venice doubled its subscription-linked burn rate, citing increased user engagement and platform subscriptions.

The company behind the tokens

Venice positions itself as a privacy-focused AI platform. The platform has surpassed 2 million users, and this is Venice’s first major external funding round since inception.

Voorhees, best known as the founder of ShapeShift, has long been one of crypto’s most vocal advocates for privacy and decentralization. The $1 billion valuation places Venice in a competitive position carving out a niche for users who want AI tools without surrendering their data to a centralized provider.

What this means for VVV holders and investors

The investor lock-up period of one year means there won’t be an immediate dump of the 1.5 million vesting tokens or the 5 million warrant tokens hitting the market. The ongoing burn program, with doubled rates since April 2026, creates a deflationary tailwind. More than 40% of supply already burned is an aggressive reduction by any standard.

The company holding 37% of total supply introduces concentration risk. Venice says it won’t sell those tokens, but the buy-and-burn program is only as sustainable as the revenue that funds it.