Venice AI hits $1B valuation proving uncensored privacy-first models are profitable

venice ai, a platform offering access to over 200 ai models with end-to-end encryption and zero data storage, raised $65m in series a funding led by dragonfly at a $1b valuation. ceo erik voorhees reported the company is already profitable with $70m in annualized revenue and 1.7 million daily api calls, driven by 3 million active users seeking unfiltered ai interactions. the investment signals growing investor confidence in crypto-aligned infrastructure that treats ai as a neutral protocol despite regulatory risks. venice plans to scale its infrastructure to support this growth, offering users the ability to self-host models to avoid corporate censorship.