Worldcoin, a multibillion-dollar crypto startup, is raising $100 million from investors who value the company’s total stockpile of tokens at $3 billion, unnamed sources told The Information on Tuesday.
Among the investors in its recent seed fundraising are Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), which has previously invested in Berlin-based Worldcoin, as well as Khosla Ventures
Worldcoin tokens will be sold to raise funds, The Information added.
2nd seed fundraising
This is Worldcoin’s second significant capital offering in just six months, after a $25 million capital raise last October at a $1 billion valuation. A16z Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Digital Currency Group (parent company of CoinDesk) were among that time’s investors.
Angel investors Sam Bankman-Fried, creator of FTX, and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, also invested during that funding round.
Worldcoin, co-founded by Y Combinator President Sam Altman, scans retinas in return for cryptocurrency using chrome, volleyball-sized spheres. It seeks to photograph everyone’s irises on the planet in order to identify them and distribute its new digital currency evenly. Hundreds of thousands of people’s eyeballs have been photographed thus far in around 20 nations.
Obstacles
However, the procedure has been hampered by issues such as unequal smartphone access, confused consumers, and attempted fraud.
Each individual earns contingent upon their involvement early in the project’s implementation, with the amount decreasing as more people are onboarded.
Worldcoin has suspended operations in at least seven nations due to a slew of logistical challenges that forced the company to rethink its launch strategy.
It has halted its operations in a number of countries because local contractors have left or because rules have made doing business impossible. Aside from that, it also implemented a new condition that everyone joining up should have a smartphone, which decreases its ability to further reach people in underdeveloped countries.