The New York startup is developing infrastructure for developers to distribute, monetize and operate autonomous AI agents.
Cowboy has emerged from stealth with $5 million in seed funding to develop a marketplace for artificial intelligence agents.
The financing, announced November 4, includes investments from Nebular, Compound, Semantic Ventures, Anagram, Shine Ventures and Uncommon Projects, alongside several angel investors.
Founded in 2025 by CEO Chad DePue, Cowboy is building what it describes as an app store for AI.
Its platform allows developers to create, distribute and monetize autonomous agents, models, data feeds and related software tools.
A Marketplace for Autonomous Software
Most developers currently distribute AI applications through individual websites, APIs or software marketplaces that were not originally designed for autonomous agents.
Cowboy wants to provide a dedicated commercial infrastructure for this emerging category.
Its Cowboy General Store launched with more than 10,000 listed agents, data feeds, skills and models, according to the company.
The marketplace lets developers publish software that customers can discover and run without building the underlying infrastructure themselves.
Its agents, which the company calls actors, can maintain their own schedules, files and wallets.
That architecture allows agents to execute recurring tasks, maintain state between operations and interact with external services.
Examples include monitoring prices, performing research and running automated workflows.
Making Agents Commercial Products
The company's business model depends on turning AI agents into reusable products that developers can sell to customers.
A buyer could potentially subscribe to an agent that performs a particular task rather than commissioning a custom application.
Cowboy also emphasizes security, including separating customer credentials from the software developers selling agents.
The platform says it reviews agents before listing them.
But the company has not disclosed how many of its listed tools have paying customers, how much marketplace transaction volume it processes or its revenue.
The Challenge of Building an AI Marketplace
AI agent marketplaces face a problem similar to earlier app stores: attracting both developers and customers while maintaining software quality.
The challenge is more complicated for autonomous agents, which may access private data, initiate transactions or take actions on users' behalf.
Security, reliability and permissions will therefore be central to adoption.
Cowboy is also entering a market where major AI platforms already offer developer tools, integrations and agent-building environments.
The $5 million seed round gives it resources to develop its distribution platform.
Its broader bet is that AI agents will become a commercial software category in their own right, requiring infrastructure for discovery, payments, execution and trust.
Sources: Business Wire via Yahoo · Cowboy