Sam Altman's World Foundation raises $52.5M to scale proof of human verification system

World Foundation Raises $52.5M to Scale Sam Altman's 'Proof of Human' ID

World says 39 million people have joined its network and 18 million have been verified in person via its iris-scanning Orb. The World Foundation has raised $52.5 million to expand World ID -- the "proof of human" system from Sam Altman's World -- betting that verifying who is human will only grow more critical as AI agents flood the internet, the nonprofit said Friday. The initial token sale was led by Pantera Capital and drew Bain Capital Crypto, Nasdaq-listed Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, and Susquehanna Crypto, with all the WLD sold locked up for 12 months. The money will go toward bringing World ID to organizations, consumers, and their AI agents, the Foundation said. Pantera general partner Cosmo Jiang said the "need for Proof of Human is becoming acutely clear" as AI development accelerates. How World ID works World ID lets a person prove they are a unique human without revealing their identity, through a one-time iris scan at a spherical device called the Orb that generates an ID stored on their phone. World, rebranded from Worldcoin in 2024, was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to build a global "proof of personhood" system. The technology is being integrated this year with platforms including Zoom, Docusign, Okta, Vercel, and Tinder, the Foundation said, alongside a new enterprise-ready release, World ID 4.0, that lets outside developers build their own credentials into the system. The raise coincides with the project's third anniversary. More than 39 million people have joined the network, 18 million have been verified by an Orb, and World has processed 475 million ID proofs, the Foundation said. Scrutiny and appetite World's iris-scanning model has drawn regulatory pushback across multiple countries over its handling of biometric data. Hong Kong ordered it to cease operations in 2024; a Kenyan court ordered it to delete users' biometric data; and Brazil banned it from paying people for iris scans. Spain moved to halt its data collection, and South Korea fined the project $830,000 for privacy violations. Institutional interest has grown regardless. Eightco, one of Friday's investors, built the first corporate WLD treasury last year, and Grayscale this week filed for the first U.S. ETF tied to the token.

Sam Altman co-founded World raises $52.5 million in token sale By Investing.com

Investing.com -- World Foundation has raised an initial $52.5 million in new funding via a one-year locked token sale to strategic investors, as the project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman targets expansion during a time of accelerating artificial intelligence development. An independent non-profit organization, World Foundation acts as a steward of World Network, a decentralized digital identity and financial network. The venture, which was rebranded from Worldcoin in 2024, uses a bowling bowl-sized "orb" to scan irises in exchange for digital IDs and a cryptocurrency token called WLD. Although World has argued that its World ID grants users a "digital passport" that can prove a holder is human and not an AI chatbot, the project has still come under some scrutiny and faced temporary bans in some countries for perceived privacy risks. World Foundation said Pantera Capital led the first close of the funding round, which also included Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto, and additional investors. "The need for Proof of Human is becoming acutely clear with the acceleration of AI development, and we see this in the influx of enterprise traction. We're excited to continue supporting World's mission at this inflection point in its growth," said Cosmo Jiang, Pantera Capital General Partner. World said that the need for its core product, World ID, is growing across consumer platforms, enterprise digital services, and the agentic web as AI becomes more widespread online and makes distinguishing humans from machines more difficult. Without this type of technology, advertising models may have difficulty relying on views and engagement data, synthetic profiles could flood dating apps, and voting systems may be harder to validate, World said. The new capital generated by the fundraising drive will be used to bring World ID technology to organizations, consumers and their AI agents globally, World said. To date, more than 39 million people have joined World Network, with more than 18 million humans verified by World's "Orb," the project said, adding that the network has also utilized more than 475 million World ID proofs since its launch. WLD sold as part of World's fundraising drive are subject to the 12-month lockup, World said. (Senad Karaahmetovic contributed to this report.)