VeryAI Lands $10M to Build the First Proof of Reality Platform, Starting with Launch of Hardware-Free Palm Scan Identity Verification

VeryAI, the first-ever Proof of Reality platform, today announced a $10M Seed funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute and Anagram. This is the company’s first capital raise, coinciding with the launch of its flagship product: a hardware-free palm scan verification platform. The funding will be used to develop additional Proof of Reality products.

Every major technological shift has required a new layer of identification. The internet introduced cybersecurity and password-based authentication, while mobile devices introduced fingerprint and FaceID. Today, AI calls for something stronger. The rise of AI deepfakes and spoofing is exposing how easily faces, fingerprints and security codes can be replicated or bypassed, eroding trust in the very systems meant to keep users safe. The time it takes for hackers to compromise systems has increased by 22% since 2023, with breaches now occurring in just 48 minutes on average, leaving organizations with far less time to respond. Existing tools like FaceID, CAPTCHAs and two-factor codes can’t keep pace with these threats. Facial recognition is especially easy to spoof, as hackers can find facial images on platforms like Facebook and use deepfake tools to create a replica. Beyond that, it continues to show systemic biases: the rate of false positives for African-American faces can be up to 100 times higher than for Caucasian faces in some U.S.-designed algorithms.

VeryAI has a new approach: the palm, an identifier that is both highly unique and rarely exposed to the public. This delivers measurable improvements in security and usability:

• Palm scans are 10x more accurate than FaceID, which has a false acceptance rate of 1 in 1 million. VeryAI’s false acceptance rate for a single hand is 1 in 10 million.
  
  
• Near-perfect precision with two hands: Accuracy rises to near-perfect levels with a false acceptance rate of just 1 in 100 trillion.
  
  
• The palm print is a unique identifier. It’s not widely available in government ID databases, doesn’t appear in passport records, and can’t be scraped from social media.
  
  
• No frustrating CAPTCHAs or 2FA. Verification is seamless, private and faster for users.
  
  

VeryAI’s palm verification platform works on any smartphone, eliminating the need for external hardware. With 98% of Americans owning a smartphone, identity checks are as easy as raising your hand.

VeryAI’s B2B model enables fintechs, exchanges, government institutions, social platforms and more to integrate palm verification at scale, charging partners by monthly user verifications. For consumers, it makes identity checks simple, private and secure. VeryAI is also working on human ownership verification for agents.

“Privacy is a human right. But deepfakes and synthetic content present weaknesses that current systems simply can’t keep up with. VeryAI is restoring trust in identity verification by replacing outdated methods with solutions that are accurate, private and frictionless,” said Zach Meltzer, founder and CEO of VeryAI. “Having helped build identity solutions for millions of crypto users, from KYC and reputation scores to ZK Protocols and credential systems, I’ve seen both their value and their limits in the face of AI-driven fraud. VeryAI is building the future of identity verification.”

When users verify through VeryAI, no identity data is exposed. Instead, the system generates a non-traceable identifier that proves an action occurred without linking it back to the individual. In parallel, the company does not store palm images, only irreversible feature representations that cannot be reverse-engineered, traced or sold. Together, these safeguards ensure privacy at every stage of the process. This approach is especially critical in an era where nearly 24% of people affected by a data breach never update compromised accounts, leaving them vulnerable to repeated attacks. By adding palm scan verification, organizations can reduce that fatigue and strengthen trust in every interaction.

“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. “VeryAI’s palm verification technology closes that gap with accuracy, privacy and accessibility that no other biometric identity solution has yet to match. This is the foundation for a new standard of trust online.”

VeryAI’s team combines deep expertise across identity, biometrics and emerging technology. CEO Zach Meltzer previously scaled Galxe, the largest loyalty and retention platform in crypto, to over 6,000 partners and 34 million users, while developing identity solutions like KYC and ZK Protocols. Chief Science Officer Hua Yang is a pioneer of palm biometrics, with more than 50 publications and patents and decades of experience spanning Leap Motion, Redrock Biometrics and advanced computer vision and AI research.

VeryAI is also welcoming a new advisor, Matthew Groh, Assistant Professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Principal Investigator of the Human-AI Collaboration Lab, to the company as it enters a research partnership with the university. The collaboration will focus on strengthening human resilience to deepfakes and testing how AI tools can help people better distinguish authentic media from synthetic content, directly informing the evolution of VeryAI’s Proof of Reality platform.

This funding will be used to expand VeryAI’s security platform with other solutions that distinguish synthetic identities created by AI and deepfakes from what’s verifiably human.

To learn more, please visit: https://very.org

About VeryAI
VeryAI is the first-ever Proof of Reality platform, combining biometrics with AI and deepfake detection to restore trust. Its flagship product is redefining identity verification with the first hardware-free palm scan that works on any smartphone. Built to withstand the age of AI deepfakes and spoofing, VeryAI is designed with privacy at its core. Founded by experts in biometrics, crypto, and AI, VeryAI equips organizations in sectors from finance and government to social media with fraud-proof identity and authenticity verification that is accurate, private, and effortless. By putting the next layer of trust in the palm of your hand, VeryAI is creating a new standard for digital security.

Contact Information

Abigail Hanson

Director

VSC for VeryAI

Contact via E-mail