Coinbase's Base Is Betting Big on AI Agents With $100K Startup Accelerator

In brief

• The Base accelerator plans to select 10 startups for its eight-week Batches 004 accelerator.
• Each selected team will receive a $100,000 investment from the Base Ecosystem Fund.
• The program is targeting startups building AI agents, trading, payments, and financing products.

The team behind Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, is narrowing its startup accelerator to 10 teams for its latest cohort, with each selected company receiving a $100,000 investment upfront, Coinbase announced on Wednesday.

Applications for Base Batches 004 are open through September 9, Coinbase said. The eight-week virtual program will conclude with a Demo Day in New York in November.

“We've learned that the best results come from going deeper with a smaller, more focused group of exceptional builders,” Daniel Bronheim, Base Ecosystem Fund Lead, told Decrypt. “For Batches 004, we are shifting away from broad cohorts and zeroing in on high-signal teams, then offering hands-on support and deep Base ecosystem integration.”

The program is seeking pre-seed startups focused on trading, payments, financing, and AI agents, including products that use stablecoins for agent-driven shopping, trading, and payments, as well as infrastructure for lending, e-commerce, and decentralized AI.