Oro
6 known investors
ORO is a data-contribution protocol that lets individuals share private data (such as linked social and health accounts) to help train AI models, using privacy-preserving cryptography (zkTLS) and secure compute environments to keep raw data protected. Contributors earn ORO points and token rewards for completing data quests, with on-chain validation tracking their contributions.
Also known as Midcentury Labs Inc. · ORO
Investors · 6
Also in the syndicate · 4
Company profile
researched Aug 2026ORO, operated by Midcentury Labs Inc., is a data-contribution platform and protocol that lets individuals supply private data for training AI models in exchange for rewards. It is structured in two layers: a consumer-facing data sharing app where users connect accounts (social media, finance, health) and complete gamified "quests" that generate both existing and net-new data, and a privacy-preserving blockchain protocol that allows AI developers to train on the contributed data without accessing raw inputs.
The company positions private data as the emerging constraint on AI progress, arguing that publicly available training data has been exhausted and that high-quality real-world data held by individuals is largely inaccessible to developers. Its stated aim is to create a data supply chain in which contributions are recorded transparently, raw inputs remain private, data scarcity and integrity are preserved, and contributors are compensated when their data is used to improve models. An illustrative use case given by the company is sharing smartwatch health and fitness data with medical AI researchers.
Founding story
ORO's team is described as having backgrounds in AI, cryptography and distributed systems, with prior experience at Stanford AI Lab, Scale AI, Replit, Salesforce, Google DeepMind, Amazon AI and Binance, including building consumer AI products, large-scale data infrastructure and privacy-preserving model training.
Business model
ORO intermediates between individuals who contribute data and AI developers who need private, high-quality training data. Individuals contribute via the app and earn ORO points and rewards tied to the value their data unlocks; AI developers gain access to train models on that data through privacy-preserving infrastructure without receiving raw inputs. Contributions and rewards are recorded on ORO's blockchain as a public ledger.
Contributors earn ORO points and rewards for data contributions; access to train on the data is provided to AI developers through the protocol's privacy-preserving compute layer.
Traction
In April 2025 ORO announced a $6 million seed round and said it would use the capital to grow the team, expand the product and scale its privacy infrastructure to support more data types, contributors and model training, with "Season 1" underway.
Latest developments
On 16 April 2025 ORO announced a $6 million seed round led by a16z crypto CSX and Delphi Ventures, with participation from NEAR Foundation, Ocular, Orange DAO and 0G Labs, earmarked for expanding its data contribution app and privacy-preserving infrastructure.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
ORO describes itself as a human intelligence protocol building infrastructure for the shift from compute-constrained to data-constrained AI development, positioning itself as an alternative to big-tech platforms that monetize user data without compensating users.
The company emphasizes that AI models learn from contributed data without the raw data ever being exposed, copied or resold; that users retain control over what they share; that rewards are enforced by an open on-chain record rather than a single company's discretion; and that data provided is high-quality and compliant by default.
Technology
ORO's privacy-preserving infrastructure combines zkTLS cryptography, secure compute enclaves (TEEs), and encryption so that models can be trained inside a secure "vault" and only updated model weights, not raw personal data, leave it. Privacy and integrity are enforced at the compute layer rather than by policy alone, and a blockchain records data contributions and reward allocations. The company describes the resulting system as a decentralized network preserving the scarcity and integrity of contributed data.
Go-to-market
Consumer acquisition runs through a sign-up flow and waitlist on the company website and a gamified app with quests and account connections, supported by community channels on X (@getoro_xyz) and Discord. On the developer side, the company invites AI developers and researchers to connect for data access, and has said it plans to open developer access and launch additional data verticals following Season 1.
Two sides: individual consumers who generate personal data through social, finance and health accounts and wearables, and AI developers, researchers and model builders seeking access to high-quality private data.
Geography
The April 2025 funding announcement was issued from New York.
History
The company publishes under Midcentury Labs Inc. and announced its seed financing from New York in April 2025, the same month it published introductory material describing the product.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Timeline · 1
launches, deals, and filingsORO announced a $6 million seed round led by a16z crypto CSX and Delphi Ventures, with participation from NEAR Foundation, Ocular, Orange DAO and 0G Labs, to expand its data contribution app and privacy-preserving infrastructure.
$6M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Orogetoro.xyz · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Oro do?
- ORO is a human intelligence protocol that pays individuals for contributing private data to train frontier AI models.
- Who are Oro's investors?
- Oro's investors include Bitkraft Esports Ventures, LongHash Ventures.