Artificial intelligence-focused crypto protocol Fetch.ai has raised $40 million from market maker and investment firm DWF Labs.

Fetch will use the investment to deploy decentralized machine learning, autonomous agents and network infrastructure on its platform, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

The aim of Fetch.ai is to provide the tools for developers to deploy and monetize applications by providing an autonomous machine-to-machine ecosystem.

Fetch.ai deploys bits of codes it refers to as "autonomous economic agents," which create connections between a network of independent parties and with real-world systems and devices. The purpose of agents is to "generate economic value for its owner," according to Fetch.ai, be it through acquiring knowledge, sharing predictions or conducting trades.

"Fetch.ai's platform provides a comprehensive solution for building and deploying peer-to-peer applications with automation and AI capabilities,” Andrei Grachev, managing partner of DWF Labs, said in the statement.

The investment comes after traders started to bet on the potential of AI and crypto, following the recent rise in popularity of AI-driven chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generation software DALL-E. Both of these are traditional software that do not use cryptocurrencies or blockchain, However, a spike in institutional interest in their parent company – OpenAI, which recently raised $10 billion from Microsoft at a $29 billion valuation – has helped create a compelling argument for crypto traders to bet on AI-focused tokens as the next growth sector.

The native token of Fetch.ai, FET, currently has a market cap of about $400 million, while one of its peers, SingularityNET's AGIX), has over $500 million, according to CoinGecko data.

Last month, Fetch.ai teamed up with electronics giant Bosch to form a foundation for the research and development of real-world use cases of blockchain technology in areas such as transportation, hospitality and commerce.

The $40 million funding marks yet another investment by market maker DWF Labs, its fifth this month. Most recently, DWF invested $10 million in blockchain firm Radix Tokens.

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CORRECTION (March 29, 16:31 UTC): Corrects market-cap of the tokens.