Worldcoin raised $135 million from a16z and Bain Capital Crypto by means of a direct purchase of WLD tokens. This led to a corresponding jump in WLD’s total circulating supply.
The company will use these funds to continue its biometric data collection operations in the US. It recently opened eye-scanning physical infrastructure in six US cities and plans to expand to many more locations.
Worldcoin Fundraises with WLD Tokens
Worldcoin, OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s iris-scanning identity verification project, announced this WLD sale over social media.
In an accompanying press release, the company claimed that the $135 million in investment will primarily go to biometric identity verification in the US, as Worldcoin expanded these operations in May.
“World Foundation raised $135 million from a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. Funding was through a recent direct purchase of liquid, market-priced WLD. The funding comes from two of World’s earliest backers and long-term holders — a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. This wasn’t a venture round. It was a direct purchase of non-discounted liquid tokens,” the firm stated.
Because this Worldcoin investment deal substantially increased the number of $tokens, it’s actually somewhat visible in publicly-available price data.
Less than an hour before the public announcement, WLD’s market cap quickly spiked by $135 million. If this is unrelated to the investment deal, then it’s an extremely remarkable coincidence.
