Tech for Human Agency Market Map

We are pleased to share our first-ever market map for tech for human agency, a transformative area that ex/ante is committed to advancing. This is a map of both start-ups and tools that enable individuals to exercise freedom and make meaningful decisions about their lives. It encompasses technologies that give users more agency over their digital lives through enhanced control over their identity, privacy, data, assets, algorithms, and information. In an era of digital authoritarianism and surveillance capital, tech for human agency, or “agentic tech,” represents a new technological paradigm that shifts the balance of power toward end users.

These days, the term "agentic" is often used narrowly in the context of AI agents, but it has long been used in privacy tech circles to describe a broader scope of technology that is agency-producing, by giving users enhanced privacy, security, and autonomy. It captures a bold ethos shared by many founders, developers, researchers, policymakers, and investors, who see the potential of technology for protecting and enhancing these fundamental human values.

This map is an initial step to outline the current landscape and encourage collaboration among those committed to building this future with us. It is not intended to be comprehensive or complete. Many companies could be easily categorized under multiple headings. We are sharing it publicly as a prompt for our community of fellow travelers, in the hope of attracting additional contributions to this living document, and more durable, enlightened, and useful categories for this domain. If you find it useful, please share it. And if you have thoughts or feedback, we’re all ears at hello@buildexante.com. 

This map builds on many earlier efforts, and we are grateful to all the people and organizations who have contributed to documenting this broader space. For those seeking other resources and maps, we’d point you to:

web3 privacy, ZKs, web3 security, agentic tech, DAO tooling / governance