Cari, a Washington, DC-based company building a bank-governed digital money network, has raised $32.5 million in funding.
The funding came entirely from banks, including First Horizon Bank, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, M&T Bank, Old National Bank, SouthState Bank, and Glacier Bank. All six of Cari’s Design Partner Banks participated in the round.
Led by CEO Gene Ludwig, Cari provides shared digital money infrastructure that allows banks to bring commercial deposits onto a permissioned blockchain. Its network is built on a Layer-2 blockchain anchored to Ethereum, enabling tokenized deposits and real-time, programmable financial transactions around the clock while keeping activity within the regulated banking system.
“There is no stronger endorsement of what we are building than having the banks we are building it with choose to invest alongside us,” said Gene Ludwig, founder and CEO of Cari. “From day one, we’ve believed that banks should be at the center of how digital money evolves, not adapting to infrastructure built without their input or influence. The fact that our first outside capital comes entirely from banks speaks volumes about what we’ve accomplished together and the opportunity ahead.”
Cari currently works with more than 30 participating financial institutions, including six Design Partner Banks. More than 40 additional institutions are reportedly in active discussions to join, representing a combined network and pipeline of banks with more than $10 trillion in assets.Bryan Jordan, Chairman, President and CEO of First Horizon Bank, comments: “The benefits of tokenized deposits should be available to all clients. Cari’s shared infrastructure gives us access to capabilities that would be difficult and costly to develop independently, while allowing us to continue competing on the relationships and service that differentiate First Horizon. We see a significant opportunity for our clients as the network continues to grow.”
Eric Girard, Head of Embedded Banking & Co-Head of Commercial Product at KeyBank, comments: “We believe banks should help lead the next chapter of how money moves. We see shared infrastructure as a way to bring emerging technology to clients responsibly — keeping money within the regulated banking system and the protections our customers rely on. It lets us innovate with confidence while staying focused on the relationships and service that define our institution.”
The company has progressed from an initial minimum viable product to a full platform that supports tokenized deposit operations, including minting, transferring, and burning digital deposits.
Cari will use the new funding to move toward production, scale its network, accelerate bank onboarding and integrations, expand programmable money products and use cases, and strengthen digital asset capabilities for participating banks.
