Where does Alex Blania work?

Alex Blania is Co-founder & CEO, Tools for Humanity of Worldcoin and CEO at Tools for Humanity and Co-founder & CEO (Tools for Humanity) at World.

What companies did Alex Blania found?

Alex Blania founded Worldcoin, Tools for Humanity, World.

Where did Alex Blania go to school?

Alex Blania studied at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (B.Sc. Physics, B.Sc. Industrial engineering).

What awards has Alex Blania received?

Blania was named to the TIME 2025 list of the 100 most influential people in AI.

What podcasts and interviews feature Alex Blania?

Tracked appearances include "Can Worldcoin Fix The Internet's 99% Bot Problem?", "Proof of personhood in an age of AI fakery".

Alex Blania

Unicorn founder

Co-founder & CEO, Tools for Humanity at Worldcoin · CEO at Tools for Humanity · Co-founder & CEO (Tools for Humanity) at World

San Francisco, CA

FoundedWorldcoin$3B Tools for Humanity World

Find your path to Alex

100 people in our graph share verified history with Alex — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

KatherineunlockedAlex: together at Merge Labs (2026)

×2Alex: together at Tools for Humanity

Alex: together at Merge Labs

Alex: together at Caltech

About

Alex Blania co-founded Tools for Humanity in 2019 with Sam Altman and Max Novendstern and, as CEO, runs World (formerly Worldcoin) — the iris-scanning Orb network building proof-of-humanity for the AI era, with 26 million users and 12.5 million verified World IDs. A German physicist raised outside Nuremberg, he studied physics and industrial engineering at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, researched at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and was doing deep-learning-for-quantum research at Caltech when Altman and Novendstern recruited him. In 2025 he co-founded Merge Labs, the Altman-backed brain-computer interface startup, and made TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI.

Beyond investing

Founded: Blania co-founded Tools for Humanity, the parent company of World, in San Francisco in 2019. Blania co-founded World (formerly Worldcoin), a blockchain-based identity and financial network. Blania co-founded Merge Labs with Sam Altman, an AI company aiming to non-invasively connect human brains with computers. Co-founded Worldcoin/World and Tools for Humanity in 2019 with Sam Altman and Max Novendstern; personally led Orb hardware development, opening the device R&D lab in Erlangen in 2020. Co-founded Merge Labs in 2025 with Sam Altman — the brain-computer interface startup that raised a $252M seed with OpenAI investing.
Education: Studied at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Bachelor's, physics and industrial engineering) Studied at Caltech (Master's, physics) Studied physics and industrial engineering at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, researched at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, then applied deep learning to quantum computing at Caltech.
Awards: Blania was named to the TIME 2025 list of the 100 most influential people in AI.
Hobbies: As a teenager Blania built home projects including a vertical farm, an automated beetle counter to monitor forest health, and rebuilt an Austin Mini at age 16. Teenage builder: constructed a vertical farm, an automated beetle counter for forest monitoring, and rebuilt an Austin Mini at 16.
Family: Blania grew up in a rural town outside Nuremberg, Germany, where his mother worked in accounting and finance and his father worked as a consultant and interim CEO.
More: Testified before Kenya's National Assembly in 2023 defending the Orb after regulators suspended Worldcoin; the probe closed without charges.

Mentioned above: the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg mafia → · the Tools for Humanity mafia →

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & CEO, Tools for Humanity at Worldcoin

Intro paths

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In turn, Alex can intro founders to Worldcoin's investors below.

Worldcoin's investors · 13

1confirmationIncline Village 468 CapitalBerlin Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks Bain Capital CryptoSan Francisco Blockchain CapitalSan Francisco · $25K – $200K checks · since 2023 CoinFundNew York · $6M – $10M checks Digital Currency GroupNew York Distributed GlobalAustin Fifty YearsSan Francisco · $250K – $2M checks HashedSeoul · $1M – $37M checks Hypersphere VenturesMiami Beach Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks ValkyrieSunnyvale

Co-founders at Worldcoin

Sam AltmanCo-founder & Chairman, Tools for Humanity

Max NovendsternCo-founder, Tools for Humanity

CEO at Tools for Humanity

Intro paths

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In turn, Alex can intro founders to Tools for Humanity's investors below.

Tools for Humanity's investors · 1

Blockchain CapitalSan Francisco · $25K – $200K checks · since 2025

Co-founders at Tools for Humanity

Max NovendsternCo-founder

Sam AltmanChairman

Co-founder & CEO (Tools for Humanity) at World

Intro paths

→

In turn, Alex can intro founders to World's investors below.

World's investors · 16

a16z cryptoMenlo Park AlphaLab Capital Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks Arctic Digital Bain Capital CryptoSan Francisco Blockchain CapitalSan Francisco · $25K – $200K checks Caladan Day One VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks Digital Strategies Inflection.xyzBoston · $500K – $2M checks Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks Multicoin CapitalAustin · $1M – $50M checks NordstarLondon Riverbend CapitalWashington RR2 CapitalAndorra la Vella Variant FundNew York · $250K – $750K checks

Co-founders at World

Sam AltmanCo-founder & Chairman (Tools for Humanity)

Max NovendsternCo-founder (Tools for Humanity)

Experience

Merge LabsCo-Foundercurrent2026 — present
Tools for HumanityCEO & Co-Foundercurrent2020 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
WorldCo-Foundercurrent2020 — present
CaltechResearcher2019 — 2020
Max Planck Institute for the Science of LightMaster's Student, theoretical physics2018 — 2020Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Alex Blania

Can Worldcoin Fix The Internet's 99% Bot Problem?

Bankless · bankless.com

Proof of personhood in an age of AI fakery

The Times Tech Podcast · shows.acast.com

Frequently asked questions

Who is Alex Blania?: Alex Blania co-founded Tools for Humanity in 2019 with Sam Altman and Max Novendstern and, as CEO, runs World (formerly Worldcoin) — the iris-scanning Orb network building proof-of-humanity for the AI era, with 26 million users and 12.5 million verified World IDs. A German physicist raised outside Nuremberg, he studied physics and industrial engineering at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, researched at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and was doing deep-learning-for-quantum research at Caltech when Altman and Novendstern recruited him. In 2025 he co-founded Merge Labs, the Altman-backed brain-computer interface startup, and made TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI.
Where does Alex Blania work?: Alex Blania is Co-founder & CEO, Tools for Humanity of Worldcoin and CEO at Tools for Humanity and Co-founder & CEO (Tools for Humanity) at World.
What companies did Alex Blania found?: Alex Blania founded Worldcoin, Tools for Humanity, World.
Where did Alex Blania go to school?: Alex Blania studied at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (B.Sc. Physics, B.Sc. Industrial engineering).
What awards has Alex Blania received?: Blania was named to the TIME 2025 list of the 100 most influential people in AI.
What podcasts and interviews feature Alex Blania?: Tracked appearances include "Can Worldcoin Fix The Internet's 99% Bot Problem?", "Proof of personhood in an age of AI fakery".