Nosov says W Group backed SignSplit for potential, not hype

The deal, announced on Oct. 5, 2026, gives W Group 40% of SignSplit and a seat on its board and values the Delaware-registered public benefit company at $1 billion. Nosov said large businesses often start with belief in an idea and its potential, adding that every early-stage investment carries risk.

The money does not arrive as a single payment. Nosov said the financing comes in tranches tied to product, operational and regulatory milestones, together with access to W Group’s technology and infrastructure. The tranche schedule and terms are a commercial secret, he said.

SignSplit builds what it calls “signed data” infrastructure. People and institutions record consent, provenance and terms for their data, creative work and likeness, and receive payment when AI companies, researchers or other organizations use it. A verification layer lets AI systems and digital platforms recognize signed content.

Nosov said life sciences will be a priority, since pharmaceutical companies and researchers lack quality data for medical research and drug development. Nosov added that the startup also aims to develop proprietary data-center capacity for AI workloads.

The startup was founded in 2024 by Ukrainian Glib Denisov, its executive chairman and chief product officer, and Italian Alessandro Monterosso, its CEO. Monterosso, a former nurse researcher born in 1990, met Nosov in 2025 at a live crypto trading championship organized by WhiteBIT and later approached him with the investment proposal.

SignSplit currently operates as a compact R&D team led by its founders and is hiring in engineering and data compliance. W Group invested its own capital, without outside loans or third-party money, and Nosov said being the sole investor was not a condition of the deal. The founders keep operational control.

The check is large for a first round. Dealroom estimated that it ranks above roughly 99% of enterprise software seed rounds in a sample of more than 28,000 deals. The largest seed round on record remains Thinking Machines Lab’s $2 billion raise in July 2025.

The investment is part of Nosov’s broader diversification push, which included acquiring a significant stake in Dutch sports car maker Spyker in June 2026. W Group says it brings together 11 businesses with more than 40 million clients in 150 countries.

Nosov said M&A or an IPO are the standard exit routes for an early-stage infrastructure business, and that the group’s priority is to build the product and scale it.