The startup's ero app rewards users for proving they're human, backed by $18.5M in total strategic funding at launch
More than half of all internet traffic is now generated by bots and AI. EarnOS thinks that’s a problem worth solving, and it just raised the money to try.
The company behind the ero mobile app announced a $6 million Pre-Series A round led by 1kx, with Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures among the participants. That 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.
The ero app officially exited beta on June 17, positioning itself as what the company calls “the internet’s reward program.” Users get paid for engaging with brands in ways that prove they’re actual humans.
How ero works and why brands are paying attention #
Ero’s answer is zkTLS, a cryptographic verification technology that validates user actions without exposing personal data. The technology creates proof that a real person completed a real action, whether that’s watching a video, visiting a page, or interacting with a product.
Brands post “reward missions” on the platform. Users complete them. The app verifies the engagement was authentic, and users earn rewards.
Over $30 million in annualized rewards have been pledged by brands on the platform. The beta exit is happening across four countries.
The funding trail and who’s backing the bet #
This isn’t EarnOS’s first time raising capital. The company closed a $5 million seed round in January 2025, led by Escape Velocity.
Coinbase runs the largest US crypto exchange, and Circle issues USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap. Their involvement 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.
Harrison Kennedy was also appointed as Head of Growth Strategy, with a mandate focused on building what the company describes as a “Verified Internet.”
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