World Foundation Raises $52.5M via Locked WLD Token Sale Led by Pantera

The nonprofit World Foundation has raised $52.5 million through a sale of its WLD tokens, led by Pantera Capital in the first close of the token sale.

The foundation said the proceeds will be used to expand its World ID technology for organizations, consumers, and AI agents globally as it shifts focus from building core infrastructure to scaling usage.

This latest raise coincides with three years since the project went into production and an inflection in enterprise demand. The need for proof of human is becoming acutely clear with the acceleration of AI development, according to Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera Capital.

The World ID technology relies on advanced cryptography and anonymized multi-party computation to preserve user privacy. Over 39 million people have joined the World Network, including over 18 million who have completed Orb verification, with users generating more than 475 million World ID proofs since launch.