# Tools for Humanity

> Tools for Humanity is the private technology company building much of the hardware and software behind World, a network designed to let people prove they are unique humans online without routinely disclosing their identities. Its stack spans the iris-imaging Orb, World ID, World App, World Chain, Mini Apps, developer SDKs and enterprise integrations. The company serves consumers, developers and organizations confronting bots, deepfakes, fraud and digital-payment friction, while its biometric enrollment model keeps privacy, consent and regulation at the center of the debate.

- **Founded:** 2019
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States; Munich, Germany
- **Founders:** Alex Blania (Co-founder and CEO), Sam Altman (Co-founder and Chairman), Max Novendstern (Co-founder and former CEO)
- **Team size:** Over 500 people according to the company website; roughly 464 employee profiles appeared on LinkedIn in August 2026.
- **Products:** Orb, World ID, World App, World Chain, Mini Apps and developer platform
- **Notable:** Helped launch the World protocol and transferred stewardship to the independent World Foundation before the July 2023 protocol launch., Built and open-sourced major parts of the Orb hardware, software and iris-recognition stack., Implemented Personal Custody and anonymized multi-party computation to reduce centralized handling of biometric-derived data.

## Products & services

- **Orb** — Custom multispectral hardware that captures eye and face images to verify unique humanness and issue an Orb-backed World ID credential.
- **World ID** — A privacy-preserving proof-of-human protocol that uses cryptographic proofs so apps can verify a person is unique without routinely learning who they are.
- **World App** — A self-custodial mobile wallet and gateway for World ID, supported digital assets, payments, credentials and Mini Apps.
- **World Chain** — An Ethereum-secured layer-2 network designed to prioritize verified-human activity and host identity and financial applications.
- **Mini Apps and developer platform** — SDKs, IDKit, MiniKit, a developer portal and rewards that let third parties add proof of human or build services inside World App.
- **World ID for Business and Deep Face** — Enterprise proof-of-human and presence capabilities for communications, agreements and other high-assurance workflows.
- **AgentKit** — Developer primitives for requiring proof that a unique human stands behind an AI agent or approves a consequential action.

## Achievements

- Helped launch the World protocol and transferred stewardship to the independent World Foundation before the July 2023 protocol launch.
- Built and open-sourced major parts of the Orb hardware, software and iris-recognition stack.
- Implemented Personal Custody and anonymized multi-party computation to reduce centralized handling of biometric-derived data.
- Launched World Chain mainnet in October 2024 alongside World App 3.0 and Mini Apps.
- Reported nearly 18 million Orb-verified humans across 160 countries by April 2026.
- Supported an ecosystem that surpassed 500 Mini Apps in 2025.
- Won a 2026 Zoom Developer Innovation Award for the World ID Deep Face integration in the real-time experience category.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — World entered Phase 3, emphasizing proof of human across consumer products, enterprises and AI agents.
- **2026-07** — Tinder described plans to expand its World ID integration from Japan to the United States.
- **2026-07** — World opened a London flagship on Oxford Street after opening a Munich flagship in May.
- **2026-04** — World introduced a major World ID upgrade, a dedicated World ID app beta and integrations with Zoom, Docusign, Vercel and planned Okta tooling.
- **2026-03** — AgentKit became available for developers building human-backed AI-agent workflows.
- **2025-09** — The World ecosystem passed 500 Mini Apps and expanded its developer rewards pilot.
- **2025-06** — Dawn Wallet’s founders joined Tools for Humanity to bring more advanced financial features to World App.
- **2025-05** — World raised $135 million through a WLD token sale to prior backers to expand the network in the United States and globally.

## Links

- Website: https://toolsforhumanity.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/toolsforhumanity
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/tfh_technology
- GitHub: https://github.com/worldcoin
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@worldcoin

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tools-for-humanity
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-12