VeryAI, a Proof of Reality platform focused on verifying human identity in an AI-driven digital environment, today announced a $10 million seed funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute and Anagram. The round marks the company’s first capital raise and coincides with the launch of its first product, a hardware-free palm scan verification system designed to address the growing risks of AI-generated identities and deepfakes.
As synthetic content becomes easier to generate, existing authentication methods such as facial recognition, CAPTCHAs and two-factor codes face increasing limitations. According to industry data, the time required for attackers to compromise systems has increased by 22 percent since 2023, with breaches now occurring in an average of 48 minutes.
VeryAI’s approach centers on palm biometrics, a form of identification that is both highly unique and rarely exposed publicly. The system captures palm scans through a smartphone camera without requiring specialized hardware. According to the company, its verification model delivers a false acceptance rate of roughly 1 in 10 million when verifying a single hand, compared with around 1 in 1 million for many facial recognition systems. When both hands are used, the false acceptance rate falls to approximately 1 in 100 trillion.
“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 VeryAI is restoring trust in identity verification by replacing outdated methods with solutions that are accurate, private and frictionless,” said Zach Meltzer, founder and CEO of VeryAI.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.”
VeryAI operates a B2B model that enables crypto exchanges, fintech companies and other platforms to integrate palm verification into their authentication systems, charging partners based on monthly user verifications. The system is designed to work through standard smartphone cameras, making identity checks widely accessible.
Built on Solana, VeryAI records palm-scan identity registrations on-chain while leveraging the network’s fast finality and low transaction costs. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko is also an angel investor in the project.
To support privacy and interoperability, the platform uses Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) and the Solana Attestation Service (SAS), allowing users to verify their identity across decentralized applications without exposing personal data. VeryAI is also integrating Light Protocol’s ZK compression technology, which stores only state roots on-chain while validating compressed state off-chain to reduce storage costs while maintaining security.
When verification is completed, the system generates a non-traceable identifier that proves an action occurred without linking it to a specific individual. The company states that it does not store palm images, instead retaining irreversible feature representations that cannot be reconstructed.
VeryAI’s leadership team includes CEO Zach Meltzer, who previously helped scale Galxe to more than 6,000 partners and 34 million users while working on identity systems such as KYC frameworks and credential infrastructure, and Chief Science Officer Hua Yang, a researcher in palm biometrics with more than 50 publications and patents.
“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 has also added Matthew Groh, Assistant Professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Principal Investigator of the Human-AI Collaboration Lab, as an advisor. The company is launching a research collaboration with the university to improve human resilience to deepfakes and strengthen the detection of synthetic media.
The funding will be used to expand VeryAI’s Proof of Reality platform and develop additional tools designed to distinguish AI-generated identities from verifiable human users.
