Ritual
Ritual (Origin Research Limited) builds Ritual Chain, a blockchain designed for AI agents that supports on-chain inference and verifiable execution, targeting Web3 developers and AI agent builders through a self-serve developer platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Ritual does
Ritual (legally Origin Research Limited, incorporated in Delaware) is a New York-based, privately held company founded in 2023 that is building infrastructure for autonomous AI agents on a purpose-built blockchain. The platform's core product, Ritual Chain, combines on-chain inference for large language models and ONNX models, composable precompiles, and native scheduling features; it is complemented by Infernet, a protocol enabling smart contracts to consume AI model inferences, and by a decentralized compute network that aggregates heterogeneous resources and prices them through the Resonance auction mechanism. The technical stack includes Symphony (execution-aware distributed verification), Priveri and Cascade (privacy-preserving inference), vTune (verifiable fine-tuning), and model and data watermarking — collectively positioning the company at the intersection of cryptography, mechanism design, and AI systems research.
The company targets two overlapping customer segments: Web3 developers integrating AI capabilities into decentralized applications, and AI agent builders requiring verifiable execution, economic sovereignty, and adversarial-privacy guarantees for long-lived agents. Its go-to-market is product-led and community-led, relying on open documentation, a public testnet (launched June 2026), Discord, X (Twitter), research publications, and a whitepaper rather than a direct sales motion. Ritual has not disclosed pricing, customer logos, or revenue, and the platform only recently moved from Infernet (research/protocol stage) into a full public testnet, indicating the business is in pre-commercial infrastructure buildout rather than revenue generation.
The business model is intended to operate as a decentralized compute marketplace combining usage-based AI infrastructure services (compute, inference, model fine-tuning) with marketplace economics, but no monetization timeline, fee structure, or token economics have been disclosed. The company has raised approximately $25M in a Series A led by Archetype (November 2023) with participation from Accomplice, Robot Ventures, Accel, Ambush Capital, dao5, and Dialectic, plus undisclosed follow-on from Polychain Capital (April 2024) and additional June 2024 tranches; in April 2026 it also made its first disclosed strategic external investment (Schematic). Headcount is reported in the 11-50 band, consistent with a venture-backed infrastructure startup still in pre-revenue buildout.
Ritual firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ritual
- Legal name
- Origin Research Limited
- Website
- https://ritual.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Ritual (Origin Research Limited) builds Ritual Chain, a blockchain designed for AI agents that supports on-chain inference and verifiable execution, targeting Web3 developers and AI agent builders through a self-serve developer platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ritual industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Decentralized AI Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210), Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592)
- SIC
- Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Blockchain Settlement & Clearing Infrastructure (On-/Off-chain Post-Trade) (FSAGAMAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Consortium Networks & Governance (network setup, onboarding, rules, node operations) (FSAPAIAB)
Keywords
Where Ritual is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Ritual business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Compute Marketplace: Ritual operates a decentralized cloud computing network for AI where diverse computing resources (including from individuals) are aggregated to support AI development. The platform enables pricing and allocation of heterogeneous compute through the Resonance mechanism.
- AI Infrastructure Services: Providing compute, inference, and model fine-tuning services to developers in the web3 ecosystem through the decentralized network.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Ritual product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ritual operates Ritual Chain, a blockchain purpose-built for AI agents that supports on-chain inference, composable precompiles, and native scheduling features. Complementing the chain are Infernet, a protocol allowing smart contracts to call AI models for inference, and a Decentralized AI Network that aggregates heterogeneous compute from independent providers. Together these offerings provide verifiable, censorship-resistant AI execution, cryptographic privacy for prompts and model weights, and a marketplace for pricing diverse AI workloads.
Product overview
Ritual is a lab for autonomous intelligence, offering an open platform that merges cryptography and artificial intelligence. The core offerings include Ritual Chain, a blockchain specifically designed for AI agents supporting on-chain inference with composable precompiles and native scheduling; Infernet, a protocol enabling smart contracts to access AI models for inference; and a Decentralized AI Network that aggregates compute resources to support AI development without dependence on major centralized providers. The platform addresses computational integrity, privacy guarantees, and access costs through cryptographic methods and distributed computing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Infernet: A protocol enabling smart contracts to access AI models for inference.
Products and services
- Ritual Chain A blockchain specifically designed for AI agents that supports on-chain inference, composable precompiles, and native scheduling. Combines LLM inference, ONNX models, network requests, and DKMS modules as first-class primitives, targeted at web3 developers building AI agents and decentralized applications.
- Infernet A protocol enabling smart contracts to access AI models for inference, part of Ritual's open platform for merging cryptography and artificial intelligence. Targeted at developers integrating AI inference into blockchain-based applications and smart contracts.
- Decentralized AI Network A decentralized network of nodes hosting AI models that provides compute, inference, and model fine-tuning services to developers in the web3 ecosystem, reducing dependence on centralized cloud providers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Priveri achieves ~16x faster verification than zkLLM for 1-token response while maintaining statistical guarantees
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Ritual
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Ritual technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability9 records
Feature11 records
Ritual partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- SchematicminorRitual participated as an investor in Schematic's $6.5M seed funding round. Schematic provides entitlements and enforcement infrastructure for SaaS and AI companies.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Ritual competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Customer concentration
Ritual social profiles
Digital presenceRitual financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ritual leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Ritual funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ritual M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ritual
What does Ritual do?
Ritual operates Ritual Chain, a blockchain purpose-built for AI agents that supports on-chain inference, composable precompiles, and native scheduling features. Complementing the chain are Infernet, a protocol allowing smart contracts to call AI models for inference, and a Decentralized AI Network that aggregates heterogeneous compute from independent providers. Together these offerings provide verifiable, censorship-resistant AI execution, cryptographic privacy for prompts and model weights, and a marketplace for pricing diverse AI workloads.
Is Ritual a public or private company?
Ritual is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Ritual founded?
Ritual was founded in 2023. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Ritual based?
Ritual is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ritual make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Compute Marketplace is the primary driver. The others are AI Infrastructure Services.
Does Ritual have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ritual.
What industry is Ritual in?
Ritual's product category is Decentralized AI Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGAMAC, Blockchain Settlement & Clearing Infrastructure (On-/Off-chain Post-Trade), with a secondary code of FSAPAIAB, Consortium Networks & Governance (network setup, onboarding, rules, node operations). Its NAICS code is 523210 and its SIC code is 6211.