Alex Blania

Alex Blania (born circa 1994) is an entrepreneur and technology executive, based in San Francisco, CA. He is CEO of Tools for Humanity, a technology company he co-founded, and co-founder of the related company World, where he is also CEO. He is also a co-founder of Merge Labs together with Sam Altman and others, an AI company aiming to non-invasively connect human brains with computers.

Career 2019: Founding World Blania was interested in the Bay Area startup scene while doing research at Caltech, often driving to San Francisco to network. In October 2019, entrepreneurs Sam Altman and Max Novendstern emailed him with an offer to work with them on a new project, an international financial and identity network incorporating universal basic income. Blania was interested enough to leave Caltech and Tools for Humanity, World's parent company, in San Francisco. In March 2020, Blania traveled to Germany to continue the Orb's development. He hired a team to assemble the Orb in a new facility in Erlangen, and by the summer of 2021, they were field testing a prototype. in September 2023, Blania appeared in person before the National Assembly to defend the product’s safety. On Sep. 18, Kenya's Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki stated Kenyan authorities had attempted to detain Blania but had been blocked by US authorities. World responded that neither Blania or any of its employees had been detained. In 2024, after investigating the technology, Kenyan police confirmed they had closed the World investigations and wouldn't be pressing charges.

2024-2026: Merge Labs, recent In January 2024, Blania announced an update to the Orb device, at which point Tools for Humanity had raised around $250 million Blania spoke at the 2025 IAPP Global Privacy Summit.

In August 2025, it was reported that Blania and Altman were co-founding Merge Labs, an AI company aiming to compete with Neuralink, The Financial Times reported it was seeking to fundraise an initial $250 million for a total valuation of $850 million, with Altman's OpenAI venture team expected to supply much of the startup funding.

Early life and education Born circa 1994, Alex Blania grew up in a rural town outside Nuremberg, Germany. His mother worked in accounting and finance, while his father worked as a consultant, sometimes stepping in as an interim CEO at various companies. Blania had an early interest in building things, as well as computer programming and electrical engineering. Among home projects were constructing a vertical farm, building an automated beetle counter to monitor forest health, and rebuilding an Austin Mini from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) in Erlangen, Germany, He also researched deep learning and AI in quantum computing at Caltech's Institute for Quantum Information and Matter.