EarnOS has raised $18.5 million in strategic financing as it officially rolls out its consumer rewards platform in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, according to a Wednesday statement.

Ero is a digital rewards platform that aims to make online engagement more transparent and trustworthy. Powered by zkTLS privacy technology and Verona’s network, the platform allows brands to confirm authentic human activity, minimize fraudulent traffic, and compensate users for verified digital interactions.

The financing includes a $6 million Pre-Series A round led by 1kx, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures, alongside a $12.5 million non-dilutive strategic investment from Verona. The company said the platform launched with more than $30 million in annualized reward commitments from major consumer brands.

“This funding round is about building the Verified Internet,” Phil George, CEO of EarnOS, commented on the release. “Brands are losing over $100B a year to bots, fake engagement, and AI-generated noise. Our app, ero, inverts that model by letting brands pay only for real, verified outcomes, while people earn real money for the value they already create online.”

EarnOS positions ero as an alternative to traditional digital advertising by enabling brands to compensate users only for verified online actions rather than engagement metrics that may be distorted by bots or AI-generated activity. The platform relies on privacy-focused zkTLS technology to validate user identity and behavior without collecting sensitive data, with the goal of improving advertising efficiency while preserving user privacy.

“EarnOS is tackling one of the biggest unsolved problems on the internet: how do you prove what’s real? As AI and bots reshape online environments, the ability to verify identity and take action without sacrificing privacy becomes foundational,” Peter Pan, Partner at 1kx, stated, adding that the company is creating new economic infrastructure for the digital ecosystem and that the funding will help scale the platform internationally.

To support future growth, EarnOS appointed former Uber executive Harrison Kennedy as Head of Growth Strategy and Expansion. The company also highlighted partnerships with Verona, Turnkey, and Rain, which provide verification, wallet, and payment infrastructure for the platform. EarnOS plans to expand into additional international markets later this year.

“Brands are facing a sea of sameness online,” John Shiel, Senior Content and Engagement Manager at Nike Innovation Labs, said. “EarnOS creates an opportunity to make brand interactions fun, participatory, and transparent, and to get away from AI slop.”