The World Foundation announced it raised $52.5 million from strategic investors by selling tokens locked for a full year. Pantera Capital led the initial closing, joined by Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto, and others, signaling a commitment to long-term growth rather than short-term profit.
According to the foundation, these funds will be used to advance World ID, a system designed to verify humans through a unique iris scan performed by a device called the Orb. This 'proof of human' technology aims to distinguish real people from AI agents across the web, a growing need as artificial intelligence continues to expand.
Building Trust Amid AI Growth
Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera Capital, emphasized the rising importance of human verification with accelerating AI development and noted increasing enterprise interest. World ID’s technology is set to integrate with platforms like Zoom, Docusign, Okta, Vercel, and Tinder throughout the year. The foundation also highlighted the release of an enterprise-focused version, World ID 4.0, earlier this year.
The fundraising marks the third anniversary of World’s production launch in July 2023, during which the network grew to over 39 million members and 18 million Orb-verified users. This follows a previous $135 million funding round in May 2025 backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto when the user base was at 26 million.
Despite the token (WLD) trading near $0.37, about 97% below its peak in March 2024, investors remain supportive. Tom Lee from Eightco, which holds over 283 million WLD tokens, described the foundation’s technology as a critical element for securing digital interactions in an increasingly online world.
