Worldcoin raised $135 million from a16z and Bain Capital Crypto through a direct purchase of WLD tokens. This resulted in a similar increase in the total circulating supply of $WLD .
The company will use this money to continue its biometric data collection operations in the United States. It recently opened an eye scanning infrastructure in six U.S. cities and plans to expand to many more locations.
Fundraising for Worldcoin using $WLD tokens.
Worldcoin, the iris-scanning identity verification project by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, announced the sale of WLD on social media.
In a accompanying press release, the company claimed that the $135 million investment would primarily go towards biometric identity verification in the United States, where Worldcoin expanded these operations in May.
Because this Worldcoin investment deal significantly increased the number of WLD tokens, it is actually somewhat visible in the publicly available price data.
Less than an hour before the public announcement, the market capitalization of $WLD quickly increased by $135 million. If this is not related to the investment deal, it is an astonishing coincidence.
In any case, this large investment in WLD could be a much-needed win for Worldcoin. Last December, German regulators ruled against the company's data collection, and both Kenya and Indonesia reached similar conclusions this month.
The price of WLD recently rose due to rumors of social media integration with OpenAI, but nothing has materialized.
In addition to a16z and Bain Capital Crypto, both of which have been major investors in cryptocurrencies in recent months, Worldcoin also mentioned some other funders.
Selini Capital, Mirana Ventures, and Arctic Digital participated in a traditional funding round for Worldcoin, which apparently did not include WLD tokens.
Thanks to this significant investment, Worldcoin can continue to enhance its operations in the United States while increasing the trading and popularity of WLD.
The company did not provide any other specific commitments regarding the $135 million, but it discussed the growth of its user network, its physical infrastructure, and broader artificial intelligence technology capabilities.