World raises $135 million via WLD token sale to expand across the US

The firm behind the digital identity network World sold $135 million worth of WLD, its native token, to the firm's prior backers, Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto.

The sale aims to bolster the World Network throughout the United States and globally, as well as to expand infrastructure for World IDs to help prove a person's humanity online, according to a Wednesday release. Over 26 million people have used the World Network and 12.5 million people have created a World ID by using the firm's Orb, which scans a person's irises to collect their biometric data. 

"AI is rapidly evolving. The tools to distinguish humans from machines should scale at a similar pace to help prepare humanity for the [Artificial General Intelligence] era," World wrote in a release. "This funding opportunity is in service to the long-term mission of World and is backed by the builders who believed in World from the beginning. It is anticipated that World Network will become one of the first self-sustaining protocols."

Earlier this year, World said it plans to launch in the United States, with the project rolling out in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. Individuals scan their irises at one of World's orbs and can receive a reward of WLD tokens for creating their World ID, which "proves their humanness" in digital spaces. 

Tools for Humanity, the firm developing World, raised $115 million in a May 2023 fundraise led by Blockchain Capital, with additional support from a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global, The Block previously reported. Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, is a co-founder of World. 

World, formerly known as Worldcoin, launched its token WLD in July 2023. As of May 21 at 12:27 p.m. ET, WLD was valued at $1.13, according to The Block's WLD Price Page.

The Block reached out to World for comment.