Startup profile · funding coverage
Cari funding, valuation and investors
Bank-governed tokenized-deposit network so regional banks can move programmable money inside the regulatory perimeter.
Keep track of Cari
Save this profile to your VCT watchlist for a quick return.
Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Initial external (first tranche)
$32.5M · September 2026
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$33M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
seed · Washington, DC, USA
Investors in latest funding
Lead: First Horizon Bank
Other: Huntington Bank , KeyBank , M&T Bank , Old National Bank , SouthState Bank , Glacier Bank
Overview
Cari (Cari Network / Cari LLC) builds permissioned Layer-2 infrastructure anchored to Ethereum so U.S. chartered banks can mint, transfer, and burn tokenized deposits. Company and FF News coverage describe a $32.5 million first tranche closed around September 2, 2026 funded entirely by banks including First Horizon, Huntington, KeyBank, M&T, Old National, SouthState, and Glacier Bank, with KBW advising. Product suite delivered July 31, 2026; production launch targeted for end of 2026. Founded by former OCC Comptroller Gene Ludwig.
Why Cari is interesting
September 2, 2026 $32.5M first tranche of initial external funding — every dollar from chartered banks (design partners plus Glacier) — turning prospective production users into owners of shared rails competing with nonbank stablecoins.
Product & use cases
Shared bank-governed ledger for tokenized commercial deposits with wallet, portal, and programmatic APIs for always-on settlement.
- Interbank tokenized deposit settlement among regional banks
- Programmable B2B payments and treasury for commercial clients
- Bank-controlled alternative to nonbank stablecoin rails
Key facts
- $32.5M first tranche — 100% bank-funded (company / FF News, Sep 2026)
- Design partners: First Horizon, Huntington, KeyBank, M&T, Old National, SouthState (+ Glacier)
- 30+ banks on network; 40+ in talks; company cites >$10T combined assets in pipeline
- Production not yet confirmed — pilot mint/transfer/burn live
Funding history (newest first)
Initial external (first tranche)
2026-09 $32.5M- First Horizon Bank (lead)
- Huntington Bank (participant)
- KeyBank (participant)
- M&T Bank (participant)
- Old National Bank (participant)
- SouthState Bank (participant)
- Glacier Bank (participant)
Industries
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Cari's financing or category context.
Last updated:
Editorial note: AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.