VeryAI Raises $10M Seed to Launch Palm-Scan “Proof of Reality” Platform for the Age of Deepfakes

VeryAI has raised $10 million in seed funding to develop what it calls the world’s first “Proof of Reality” platform, a system designed to verify that a person interacting online is genuinely human. The round was led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute and Anagram. The funding coincides with the launch of the company’s first product: a hardware-free palm scan identity verification platform that works on standard smartphones.

As artificial intelligence systems make it increasingly easy to fabricate images, videos, voices, and entire digital identities, the challenge of verifying authenticity online has intensified. Deepfakes and AI-generated media are now capable of bypassing many traditional verification methods, including facial recognition and one-time authentication codes. VeryAI’s approach introduces a new biometric layer aimed at addressing this growing gap in digital trust.

The company plans to use the new capital to expand its broader Proof of Reality security platform, developing tools that distinguish real people from synthetic identities and AI-generated actors across digital systems.

Why Identity Verification Is Entering a New Phase

Every major technological transition has historically required new methods of identity verification. Passwords and cybersecurity protocols emerged with the internet, while smartphones popularized biometric authentication such as fingerprint and facial recognition.

The rise of generative AI is creating a new set of vulnerabilities. Modern deepfake tools can reconstruct facial images from publicly available photos and produce convincing replicas capable of bypassing many existing identity checks. At the same time, attackers are compromising systems faster than ever. The average time required to breach an organization has dropped significantly in recent years, leaving security teams with increasingly narrow response windows.

Facial recognition technology has also faced scrutiny for accuracy disparities across demographic groups. Some studies have found false positive rates that vary dramatically depending on ethnicity and training data. Combined with the growing availability of facial imagery online, these factors have raised questions about whether face-based authentication alone can remain a reliable digital identity standard.

Against this backdrop, researchers and security companies are exploring alternative biometric signals that are harder to replicate or harvest.

A Biometric Signal Hidden in Plain Sight

VeryAI’s system centers on a biometric feature that has received far less public exposure: the human palm.

While faces appear constantly in social media and public images, palms are rarely photographed or recorded in high resolution. This makes them significantly harder for attackers to capture and replicate. Palm structures also contain intricate patterns of veins, lines, and geometric features that create a highly distinctive biometric signature.

According to the company, its palm-based verification system produces a false acceptance rate of roughly one in ten million when scanning a single hand. When both hands are used together, the rate improves to approximately one in one hundred trillion, approaching what the company describes as near-perfect accuracy.

Equally significant is that the technology does not require dedicated hardware. Instead, users simply raise their hand in front of a smartphone camera. Computer vision algorithms extract biometric features from the palm image and generate a mathematical representation used for authentication.

This design allows organizations to deploy palm verification through standard mobile devices rather than specialized biometric scanners.

Hardware-Free Identity Verification

Traditional biometric systems often depend on custom hardware—fingerprint readers, infrared scanners, or dedicated facial recognition sensors. While effective in controlled environments, these systems can be expensive to deploy at scale.

VeryAI’s platform attempts to remove that barrier by operating entirely through software. The system uses smartphone cameras combined with computer vision models trained to recognize palm features with high precision.

From a deployment perspective, this architecture allows identity verification to function anywhere a smartphone is available. Given that smartphones are now owned by the vast majority of adults in developed markets, the approach dramatically expands the environments where biometric verification can occur.

The company’s initial business model targets organizations that require strong identity assurance at scale, including:

• fintech platforms
• cryptocurrency exchanges
• social media networks
• government identity systems
• online marketplaces

Rather than selling hardware, VeryAI provides its technology as an integrated verification service, charging organizations based on monthly verification activity.

Privacy by Design

Biometric systems often raise concerns about how personal data is stored and protected. A central risk in many biometric platforms is that raw biometric images—such as fingerprints or facial scans—can become attractive targets for attackers if stored improperly.

VeryAI says its architecture avoids storing biometric images entirely.

When a user verifies their identity, the system extracts distinguishing features from the palm image and converts them into an irreversible mathematical representation. This representation cannot be used to reconstruct the original palm image and cannot be linkedectly to a person’s identity.

Instead of maintaining a central repository of biometric data, the system generates a non-traceable identifier that proves a verification event occurred without exposing the underlying biometric input.

This model resembles cryptographic credential systems in which the verification outcome is stored rather than the raw personal data itself. By separating identity verification from personally identifiable information, the platform aims to reduce the risks associated with biometric databases.

Building a “Proof of Reality” Layer for the Internet

The company describes its broader vision as establishing a Proof of Reality infrastructure layer for the digital world.

As AI agents and synthetic media proliferate, distinguishing human activity from automated or fabricated behavior may become increasingly difficult. Social networks already struggle with bot detection, while financial platforms face growing threats from AI-assisted fraud.

VeryAI is working on additional tools designed to verify human ownership of AI agents, helping organizations determine whether a digital entity is controlled by a real person.

This concept could eventually extend beyond identity verification to include authenticity signals for media, transactions, and communications. In such systems, interactions would carry cryptographic proof that they originated from a verified human participant.

The Future of Digital Trust

Identity verification may soon become one of the most critical infrastructure challenges of the AI era.

Generative AI systems are rapidly improving at producing synthetic images, voices, and documents that closely mimic real individuals. At the same time, online interactions—from financial transactions to social engagement—are increasingly mediated through digital platforms where identity can be difficult to verify.

In such an environment, systems that can prove a participant is genuinely human could become foundational components of digital ecosystems.

Biometric signals like palm patterns represent one possible path forward, particularly if they can be deployed widely without specialized hardware. Combined with privacy-preserving cryptographic methods, such technologies may enable verification systems that are both secure and minimally intrusive.

Over time, Proof of Reality frameworks could extend beyond identity checks to influence areas such as decentralized governance, digital media authentication, and AI agent accountability.

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the online landscape, the ability to reliably verify what—and who—is real may become one of the defining technological challenges of the decade. Systems that can provide that assurance without sacrificing privacy or usability could play a crucial in rebuilding trust across the digital world.