EarnOS has secured $18.5 million in total strategic funding to launch its anti-AI verification platform. The company raised $6 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by 1kx, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures. This equity raise is paired with a four-year, $12.5 million non-dilutive strategic investment from Verona, bringing the total funding at launch to $18.5 million. According to reports from The Block, this funding will support the company's expansion into new markets and development of its verification technology.
The company's 'ero' app officially exited beta testing on June 17, 2025, positioning itself as what EarnOS calls 'the internet's reward program'. The app is launching in four countries: United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. As reported by The Block, the app is designed to help brands verify human internet traffic, reduce wastes caused by bots, and reward authentic digital behavior. The beta exit represents a significant expansion from EarnOS's current market presence.
According to EarnOS founder and CEO Phil George, more than half of all internet traffic is now generated by bots and AI, representing a problem worth solving. According to The Block, George stated that the funding round focuses on building the Verified Internet, where brands pay only for real, verified outcomes while users earn money for their online value creation. The company's technology is powered by zkTLS, a cryptographic verification technology that validates user actions without exposing personal data, creating proof that real people completed authentic actions.
The platform operates through 'reward missions' where brands post tasks for users to complete, with the app verifying the engagement was authentic and users earning rewards. Over $30 million in annualized rewards have been pledged by brands on the platform. As reported by The Block, the company has secured partnerships with major brands including Uber, Baskin-Robbins, The North Face, Sunglass Hut, and Lacoste for these programs. Harrison Kennedy has been appointed as Head of Growth Strategy with a mandate focused on building the Verified Internet.
This funding follows EarnOS's $5 million seed round in January 2025, led by Escape Velocity. The involvement of Coinbase (which runs the largest US crypto exchange) and Circle (which issues USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap) suggests a thesis that verified human engagement could become a core primitive in crypto-native commerce and payments. The $12.5 million from Verona is structured as a non-dilutive investment over four years, meaning EarnOS's existing equity holders aren't getting diluted by the largest chunk of the funding.
