FLock.io is a London-based Web3 startup developing a permissionless platform that brings the entire AI fine-tuning lifecycle on-chain via federated learning, smart-contract governance, and a token-driven incentive system. Its stack includes AI Arena for Kaggle-style model competitions, FL Alliance for collaborative training, and a Model Marketplace for hosting and monetizing models. By leveraging blockchain, the company aims to safeguard data privacy, deter malicious actors through reward-and-slash mechanisms, and shift control of AI assets from centralized corporations to community contributors. Current research, partly funded by the Ethereum Foundation, focuses on incentive tokenomics and zero-knowledge proofs to defend against poisoning attacks in federated learning. The company was founded by Oxford graduates and is led by CEO Jiahao Sun, also a Research Fellow at Imperial College London. FLock.io recently closed a $6 million seed round to accelerate product development, and the closed beta of its AI Arena is already live. The startup positions itself as a Web3 analogue to Hugging Face, targeting developers who need secure, customizable AI models without exposing source data.

Total raised

$6M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Mar 2024