VeryAI Raises $10M to Build the Proof of Reality Layer for the Internet

Today we’re announcing that VeryAI has raised $10 million in seed funding, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute and Anagram.

This funding will support the development of our Proof of Reality platform, beginning with the launch of our first product: a hardware-free palm scan identity verification system designed for an internet increasingly shaped by AI-generated identities and media.

As artificial intelligence makes it easier to generate realistic content and automate online activity, the internet is entering a new phase where platforms can no longer reliably determine what is real. Accounts can now be created and operated at scale by bots. Images, voices, and videos can be replicated or manipulated with generative AI tools. Identity signals that once provided confidence online are becoming easier to spoof.

We see this creating a growing infrastructure problem across the internet.

Platforms today struggle to answer basic questions:

• Is there a real person behind this account?
• Is the correct person using this identity?
• Is this content authentic?

As these uncertainties increase, platforms face rising levels of impersonation, fraud, bot activity, and manipulated media. Trust in online interactions becomes harder to maintain, particularly in environments where identity and authenticity are critical.

Our first product focuses on palm biometric verification, a method of identity confirmation based on the unique structural features of the human palm. Unlike faces, which are widely exposed online and increasingly easy to replicate using AI tools, palm patterns are rarely publicly shared and significantly harder to reproduce artificially.

Alongside biometric verification, we are also developing AI deepfake detection systems designed to analyze digital media and determine whether images, videos, or other content have been artificially generated or manipulated.

Together, these capabilities allow platforms to verify both who is interacting online and whether the content they produce is authentic.

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“Every major platform, whether in finance, crypto or social media, is grappling with the risks of AI-driven fraud,” said Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain Capital.

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“Democracy depends on our collective ability to trust who — and what — is real. In an era when technology can increasingly fabricate reality, trust itself becomes our most valuable currency,” expressed Koonal Gandhi, Chief Investment Officer of Berggruen Holdings. “The future will rely on technologies that verify authenticity without sacrificing privacy. VeryAI’s Proof of Reality platform is an important step toward rebuilding the trust that modern governance and civic life require. Their approach to proving what is real has profound implications not only for security and privacy, but for preserving truth in our shared society.”

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At VeryAI, privacy is central to how we design our systems. Rather than storing raw biometric images, our technology converts palm scans into irreversible feature representations that cannot be reconstructed back into the original biometric data. Verification events generate identifiers confirming that authentication occurred without exposing personal identity information.

“Privacy is a human right. But deepfakes and synthetic content present weaknesses that current systems simply can’t keep up with,” said Zach Meltzer, CEO at VeryAI.

“VeryAI is restoring trust in identity verification by replacing outdated methods with solutions that are accurate, private and frictionless.”

This new funding will allow us to expand our engineering team, accelerate product development, and continue building the broader Proof of Reality platform — infrastructure designed to help platforms identify real humans and authentic digital interactions as AI-generated identities and media become more widespread online.

As the internet evolves, verifying what is real may become one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure. At VeryAI, we’re building the systems designed to make that possible.