KGeN has raised a new strategic round of $13.5 million for its verified distribution tech for AI, decentralized finance (DeFI) and gaming.
Following recent strategic rounds and the global rollout of its distribution, commerce, and loyalty stack, the company has raised $43.5 million to date.
KGeN said it is fueling the creation of the world’s largest VeriFi Network, a first-of-its-kind Verified Distribution Protocol designed to power growth across AI, decentralized finance (DeFi), and gaming.
The investors included Jump Crypto, Accel, and Prosus Ventures. The round follows KGeN’s previously announced $20 million seed round in January 2023, a $10 million ecosystem round in November 2024, and comes as the firm scales its protocol, commerce stack, and loyalty infrastructure across over 60 countries.
KGeN verifies real users and composes their engagement, commerce, and reputation on-chain, giving builders a bot-resistant distribution layer, all while enabling users to earn from their time, skill, and network.
KGeN launched in 2022 with a clear mission, to help millions of small gaming communities around the world join the new digital economy of Web3, AI, gaming, and DeFi. It does this by aggregating these micro-communities and connecting them to games through data and Web3 tools.
What they do
KGeN is a growth platform for games, powered by a plug-in SDK. Game studios integrate the SDK into their games to:
- Bring in real players (not bots)
- Enable local payment options
- Run automated missions and rewards to keep players engaged
- Track what’s working through real-time analytics — all fraud-free
So studios can grow their games efficiently, transparently, and profitably, without wasting money on fake installs or traffic.
How it works
At the core is the P.O.G. Engine (Proof of Growth) a system that tracks real players and partners and makes sure only genuine activity is rewarded.
When someone brings in real users or plays the game, they get credit and rewards, while fake or bot traffic gets filtered out.
KGeN calls this the Verified Distribution Protocol, a way to ensure growth is authentic and fairly rewarded across the network. There’s also a Proof of Gamer (PoG) system that lets gamers build and monetize their reputation across different games.
Saurabh Sharma, chief investment officer at Jump Crypto, said in a statement, “KGeN has changed distribution into an accountable system of record from what was once a spend line. The combination of verified users, on-chain proofs, and real revenue traction sets the protocol to power the new influx of AI and DeFi applications.”
Since launch, KGeN has grown into a verified distribution leader in the Global South with a network of 38.9 million protocol users, 6.14 million monthly active users, and 780,000 daily active users, supported by more than 200 revenue partnerships across AI, DeFi, gaming, and commerce. Annualized revenue has reached $48.3 million, and the team now numbers 95 across multiple regions.
And Manish Agarwal, elder council at KGeN, said in a statement, “KGeN solves the hardest problem in consumer growth: trust. By verifying real users and turning reputation into an asset, we’re giving AI, DeFi, gaming companies and consumer apps a distribution rail that converts and scales.”
At the core of KGeN is POGE, a privacy-preserving identity and reputation framework that has already aggregated more than 876 million attributes from real engagement and commerce signals. POGE powers Verified UA for biometric-anchored, high-fidelity acquisition; on-chain loyalty that lifts retention through programmable rewards; and decentralized commerce via K-Store, enabling apps to activate the right users and reward behavior that drives value.
Ishank Gupta, elder council at KGeN, said in a statement, “We built KGeN to be partner-first and protocol-driven: verifiable users in, measurable outcomes out. With POGE as the reputation backbone, partners can acquire, retain, and reward the right users while letting those users carry value across the open internet.”
KGeN’s momentum has been driven by a product stack that aligns distribution, commerce, and loyalty. Verified UA reduces acquisition waste by tying identity to proof-of-skill and genuine engagement.
K-Store gives partners decentralized storefronts and campaign tools that compress CAC and increase LTV, while returning value to users. Together, these components allow AI startups to source qualified human signals, DeFi protocols to reach verified traders, and games to onboard high-retention players, and Web2 brands to build data-rich, verifiable loyalty ecosystems — all with on-chain proof and revenue alignment.
Pratik Agarwal, partner at Accel, said in a statement, “KGeN has cracked one of the most fundamental challenges in digital growth for consumer applications: efficiently identifying and acquiring verified users who actually drive value.”
Agarwal added, “Their data moat, rooted in authenticated users and portable reputation, meaningfully expands the protocol / platform utility to multiple verticals, including but not limited to offering human data intelligence in AI and delivering engaged player liquidity for consumer apps . Scaling to USD 48 million of ARR in just 3 years while creating an entirely new category with VeriFi is exceptional. We’re thrilled to back Manish and Ishank as they take KGeN into its next phase of growth.”
And Jayme Kwek, principal at Prosus Ventures, said in a statement, “Operating at the intersection of gaming, blockchain, and AI, KGeN has carved out a differentiated position by enabling scalable and verifiable user interactions on-chain. Its architecture – combining user identity, incentive alignment, and verifiable engagement unlocks use case agnostic ‘human-in-the-loop’ workflows powered by distributed labor pools, generating a flywheel of driving durable and decentralized growth for builders, while building value for users. It is a privilege to continue supporting the team and be a part of KGeN’s journey.”