[Venice AI Secures $65 Million Series A Funding, Valuation Reaches $1 Billion] According to TechCrunch, privacy-first AI platform Venice AI has announced the completion of a $65 million Series A funding round, bringing its post-money valuation to $1 billion. The round was led by crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others. Founded two years ago, Venice AI provides access to over 200 open-source and proprietary models, claiming to be 'uncensored' and emphasizing client-side encryption with no data retention. The platform currently boasts over 3 million monthly active users, approximately 1.7 million daily API calls, and an annualized revenue exceeding $70 million, with profitability already achieved. The company plans to use the funds from this round to purchase GPUs and build its own data centers, aiming to reduce reliance on leased GPUs and improve gross margins.