EarnOS launches ero app, raises $6M led by 1kx

EarnOS announced Wednesday that its ero app is exiting beta and launching in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The company confirmed it raised $6 million in a pre-Series A round led by venture firm 1kx, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures and Social Graph Ventures.

EarnOS also disclosed a four-year, $12.5 million non-dilutive strategic investment from Verona, a Layer 1 blockchain that rebranded from XION. Verona will support ero's verification, onboarding and reward delivery capabilities. Verona has supported the app since late 2024, according to EarnOS.

Ero lets brands create short tasks, called missions, that users complete in exchange for rewards. EarnOS describes the app as a tool to confirm that engagement comes from real people rather than bots or AI-generated content and to direct marketing budgets toward verified outcomes. Brands that have run or tested missions on the platform include Uber, Baskin-Robbins, The North Face, Sunglass Hut and Lacoste.

Phil George, founder and chief executive of EarnOS, described the funding as intended to build the “Verified Internet.” He added: “Brands are losing over $100 billion 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.”

John Shiel, senior content and engagement manager at Nike Innovation Labs, who has worked with EarnOS, called ero a way to make brand interactions more participatory and transparent and to “get away from AI slop.”

EarnOS plans to use the new funding to scale operations, grow its user base and deepen integrations with brands and partners. The company plans to continue developing verification and reward features with Verona's blockchain infrastructure.

EarnOS positions ero as a response to advertiser concerns about wasted spend on fake traffic and automated accounts. The company says the app aims to let marketers pay only for verified human engagement and to compensate users for authentic activity rather than for impressions or clicks that may be generated by bots or synthetic content.