Cari, a bank-governed digital money network founded by Gene Ludwig, has raised $32.5 million in the first tranche of its initial external funding round.
The investments came entirely from banks, including design partners First Horizon Bank, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, M&T Bank, Old National Bank, and SouthState Bank. Glacier Bank also participated.
Cari began working with its design partner banks in September 2025. Cari launched a full platform in March that now includes programmatic capabilities, a front-end wallet interface, and an operational portal to let banks complete the mint, transfer, and burn cycle for a tokenized deposit.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods was the financial advisor.
“There is no stronger endorsement of what we are building than having the banks we are building it with choose to invest alongside us,” Ludwig said in the release. “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.”