Sonic Innovator Fund grants 400,000 S to AI DeFi startup Hey Anon
What's the deal? Hey Anon has secured a 400,000 S grant from the Sonic Innovator Fund, led by Sonic Labs, to build its AI-powered DeFi assistant on the Sonic EVM blockchain. The grant was announced on June 12, 2025.
What's the endgame? Hey Anon lets users perform complex DeFi tasks — bridging, swapping, staking, and borrowing — through natural language prompts across protocols including AAVEDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, GMXDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and CowSwapDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. It also aggregates data from sources such as Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and GitHub to provide real-time insight into projects and market sentiment.
The product angle: The startup pairs conversational AI with a trading interface, or HUD, that it says uses Sonic's speed for real-time execution. "Hey Anon brings DeFAI (DeFi + AI) to Sonic, redefining the user experience of interacting with on-chain protocols via natural language," said founder Daniele Sesta.
Why now? The grant is part of Sonic Labs' push to seed core infrastructure and use cases on its Sonic EVM and position it as a next-generation DeFi venue. The Sonic Innovator Fund draws on up to 200,000,000 S from the Sonic Foundation treasury and targets early-stage builders and novel applications.
"We don't bet on being trendy. We back conviction," said Sam Harcourt, business development lead at Sonic Labs, referring to Sesta.
What could go wrong? The check is modest, and Hey Anon is one of several small bets Sonic is making to differentiate itself in a crowded market of layer-2 and EVM ecosystems. If the assistant fails to gain users, the investment stays directional rather than transformative.
The signal: The grant reflects two converging trends: on-chain AI agents and efforts to simplify DeFi's steep learning curve. Rather than funding generic liquidity programs, Sonic is backing AI-driven front-ends as foundational primitives — a bet that agents can materially increase real-world usage on emerging chains.
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