Perle, a company developing an AI training data platform using Web3 technology, has raised $9 million in a seed funding round led by Framework Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $17.5 million, including its earlier pre-seed round. The new funding will support the launch of Perle Labs, a platform that uses blockchain to manage human contributions to AI training. Perle Labs will provide payment systems, record work histories, and verify contributions on-chain. The goal is to create a system where people around the world can take part in providing data for AI models, with a focus on improving quality and verification. The company was founded by former employees of Scale AI, Meta, MIT, and Berkeley. It already works with companies to manage large-scale AI training operations. The latest round follows a previous $8.5 million investment in October 2024 from CoinFund, Protagonist, HashKey, and Peer VC. Perle plans to use its growing network and new capital to expand its platform and make human input a central part of AI development. Image: Rawpixel