$14.2B
Total Funding (Agent Infra)
↑ 340% YoY
87
Active Companies
↑ 28 since Q3 '25
12
Active Protocols
↑ 5 new in 2025-26
4
Standards Bodies
NIST · IEEE · W3C · OASIS
2.1M
Daily Agent Txns (est.)
↑ 12x since Jan '25
Sector Overview
The agent economy has entered a phase of rapid infrastructure build-out, with autonomous AI agents increasingly transacting, collaborating, and negotiating with each other across domains. Key themes:
Feb 2026
NIST AI 600-2 Agent Framework Published
NIST releases comprehensive framework for autonomous agent safety, covering identity, authorization, audit trails, and inter-agent communication standards. First federal standard specifically addressing multi-agent systems.
Standards · NIST
Jan 2026
Google A2A Protocol Reaches v1.0 Stable
Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol, launched by Google in April 2025, hits v1.0 with support from 50+ enterprise partners. Now handles structured task delegation, capability discovery, and multi-turn agent negotiation.
Protocol · Google DeepMind
Jan 2026
Anthropic MCP Adoption Crosses 100K Integrations
Model Context Protocol now integrated in over 100,000 applications. MCP servers provide standardized tool access for agents, becoming the de facto standard for agent-tool interaction.
Protocol · Anthropic
Dec 2025
LangChain Raises $200M Series C at $2B Valuation
LangChain closes massive round led by Sequoia, positioning LangGraph as the dominant agent orchestration framework. Agent infrastructure investment hits all-time high.
Funding · LangChain
Nov 2025
CrewAI Enterprise Launches with Fortune 500 Customers
Multi-agent orchestration platform CrewAI announces enterprise tier with SOC2 compliance, custom agent templates, and role-based access for corporate agent deployment.
Product · CrewAI
Oct 2025
IEEE P3394 Standard for Agent Identity & Trust
IEEE working group publishes draft standard for agent identity verification, establishing cryptographic frameworks for agent authentication in multi-agent networks.
Standards · IEEE
Sep 2025
OpenAI Swarm Evolves into Agent Marketplace
OpenAI transforms experimental Swarm framework into a commercial agent marketplace where specialized agents can be discovered, composed, and transacted with through a unified API.
Product · OpenAI
Agent Economy Market Map
Key companies building the infrastructure for autonomous agent systems, organized by layer.
Communication Protocols
Standards and protocols enabling agent-to-agent communication, tool access, and task delegation.
| Protocol | Purpose | Status | Adoption | Key Feature |
|---|
Regulatory & Safety Standards
Government and industry standards shaping the responsible development of autonomous agent systems.
Agent Economy Timeline
Key milestones in the emergence of the autonomous agent economy.