Startup behind World’s biometric matching software raises $5.5M in seed funding

Taceo, the company behind World’s biometric iris matching software, has closed a $5.5 million seed funding round led by Archetype VC.

The Austrian company has been developing cryptographic technology that allows payment providers to verify transactions and identities across decentralized networks without exposing underlying data. This includes encrypting the biometric data of World Network users who have scanned their irises to receive a proof-of-humanity (PoH) and gain access to World’s digital wallet and WLD cryptocurrency.

Taceo plans to use the capital to grow its team and scale its technology, which includes a cryptographic tool called coSNARKs that combines Multiparty Computation (MPC) and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP). The firm is also planning to expand its use cases beyond crypto and decentralized finance into identity verification, financial services, and AI, according to its release.

Aside from Archetype VC, a16z CSX, Cyber.Fund, A.capital Ventures, Polymorphic Capital and other investors also participated in the funding round.

World Network hits 2-year launch anniversary with 14M verified users

Meanwhile, the World Network celebrated its second birthday by announcing it has reached more than 14 million humans verified with their iris biometrics using Taceo’s software in 160 countries. The digital ID World App currently has more than 30 million users in total and has supported over 500 million transactions, the company announced last week.

World has also been expanding the use cases for its proof-of-humanity concept, designed to verify that users interacting with a digital platform are real, unique individuals and not automated bots or fake accounts.

Article Topics

biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  coSNARKs  |  cryptography  |  funding  |  multi-party computation  |  startup  |  Taceo  |  World