Last year, the Avalanche Foundation launched Infra BUIDL(AI), a groundbreaking initiative aimed at driving innovation at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralized infrastructure. With up to $15 million in direct funding and retroactive grants, the program empowers developers building AI-powered solutions on Avalanche.
As part of this initiative, Kite AI is proud to join the Infra BUIDL(AI) Program Committee, working alongside leading AI and blockchain organizations to evaluate and support cutting-edge projects. Our Co-founder and CEO, Chi Zhang will be on the committee of AI and Blockchain experts who will help select projects that align with the program’s vision.
Through a strategic partnership with Aethir and the Avalanche Foundation, successful grantees will also receive fast-tracked access to Aethir’s $100 million Ecosystem Fund, ensuring they have the computing power needed to bring their AI innovations to life.
Among the early recipients of Infra BUIDL(AI) are Cookie.fun, Lightening Forge Games, and Bitte, each contributing to AI-driven advancements on the Avalanche network. The program’s expert-led selection process ensures that projects align with the broader vision of decentralized AI innovation, with representatives from Kite AI, Aethir, and Ava Labs shaping the future of AI on Avalanche.
By joining Infra BUIDL(AI), Kite AI is reinforcing its commitment to accelerating AI-powered solutions in decentralized ecosystems, helping builders push the boundaries of what’s possible in Web3.
Chi Zhang (Co-Founder & CEO, Kite AI)
Chi Zhang is the co-founder and CEO of Kite AI, a purpose-built decentralized infrastructure for AI that fosters fair and transparent collaboration across data, models, and agents through Proof of AI. With an extensive background in AI, big data, and product management, she has led data engineering product development at Databricks and was a founding AI leader at dotData. She holds a Ph.D. in ML/AI (Statistics) and an M.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley.
Arpit Sharma (Head of Ecosystem, Aethir)
Arpit Sharma is a technology leader with expertise in Web3 ecosystem growth and strategic partnerships. As Head of Ecosystem at Aethir, he focuses on expanding global partnerships and driving decentralized compute adoption. Previously, he served as Managing Director at NEAR Foundation and VP of Global Enterprises at Polygon, contributing to the adoption of blockchain solutions across various industries.
Sarp Tomruk (Senior Engineer, Ava Labs)
Sarp Tomruk is a key contributor to decentralized infrastructure development at Ava Labs. He has played a pivotal role in building AiFRED, the AI-powered agent supporting the infraBUIDL(AI) program. In addition to serving on the program’s review committee, Sarp is also the founder of Markr.io, one of the earliest Avalanche-native tools, showcasing his deep commitment to the ecosystem. His expertise continues to shape the AI and blockchain intersection on Avalanche.
Justin Fiddes (Senior Ecosystem Growth, Ava Labs)
Justin Fiddes specializes in Ecosystem Growth at Ava Labs, focusing on AI, DePIN, and infrastructure. With three years at Ava Labs, he has played a key role in onboarding enterprises, institutions, and governments onto Avalanche. In his role, Justin works closely with both early-stage and established builders, helping them navigate the process of deploying on Avalanche. His experience supporting builders will be invaluable in guiding infraBUIDL(AI) projects, ensuring they have the resources and insights needed to succeed.
Daniel Ortiz (Program Manager, Avalanche Foundation)
Daniel Ortiz leads the infra BUIDL(AI) and infra BUIDL() programs, focusing on driving innovation and growth within the Avalanche ecosystem. With a deep understanding of Avalanche’s infrastructure and a keen interest in AI, Daniel plays a key role in supporting emerging technologies. Prior to his current position, he worked at Hubble Exchange, gaining hands-on experience in DeFi, trading infrastructure, and the technical architecture of Avalanche L1.
AiFRED (AI Powered Committee Member, Avalanche Foundation)
AiFRED is an AI-powered agent that aids in evaluating project proposals. He reviews pitch materials, generates insightful questions, and provides detailed analysis to support a comprehensive review process. Engage with AiFRED on X (formerly Twitter) to ask questions about the program and learn more about his role.
Avalanche
Avalanche is a high-performance blockchain platform designed for builders who need to scale. Engineered with a revolutionary three-part Layer 1 (L1) architecture, Avalanche is anchored by its Avalanche Consensus Mechanism, ensuring near-instant finality for transactions. The platform also features an open-source Layer 0 (L0) framework, enabling the seamless creation of interoperable Layer 1 blockchains with high throughput on both public and private networks.
Supported by a global community of developers and validators, Avalanche offers a fast, low-cost environment for building the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps). With its unique blend of speed, flexibility, and scalability, Avalanche is the preferred choice for innovators pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology.
Avalanche Foundation
The Avalanche Foundation is a non-profit entity that fosters the advancement and growth of the Avalanche platform for the world. The Foundation offers development programs for developers, entrepreneurs, and users to help turbocharge the advancement of the Avalanche ecosystem.
Aethir
Aethir is revolutionizing DePIN with its advanced and distributed enterprise-grade GPU compute infrastructure tailored for AI and gaming. Aethir aims to serve enterprise AI clients who need the world’s most powerful AI chips, such as NVIDIA H100s, and support hundreds of thousands of cloud gaming players with best-in-class experiences worldwide. This is accomplished with a decentralized architecture, bringing the GPU cloud to the community and making computing accessible for all.
Kite AI
Kite AI is a purpose-built, EVM-compatible L1 designed to power the AI economy. At its core is Proof of Attributed Intelligence (Proof of AI), an innovative consensus mechanism that ensures fair attribution and transparent rewards for contributors across agents, models and data. Our innovative architecture establishes a universal framework with purpose-built identity and attribution mechanisms, empowering contributors — from enterprises to individuals — to collaboratively build, own, and monetize AI, fostering a transparent and interoperable ecosystem.
