Blockchain Startups

How To Grow Your Startup With Blockchain In 2019?

From TheStartup on Medium, by Mantra Malhotra, Nov. 1 2018

2019 is coming and Blockchain has gained a huge popularity in a very short period of time. Currently, it is helping reshape industries in multiple domains viz. Healthcare, finance, manufacturing, education, and government.

It will continue to evolve more and be used in many innovative ways. So, it is the peak time to leverage Blockchain for transforming your business and reshaping your target industries.

Before we start discussing how Blockchain technology can help your business grow in the near future, just take a close look at some interesting Blockchain stats:

As per Statista, it was expected in 2017 that the global Blockchain technology market would reach 339.5 million U.S. dollars in size and is expected to grow to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.

According to the latest survey from IBM, it suggests that 65 percent of major global banks will use Blockchain technology within just three years. As per the reports by the same source, 17% of Banks will go to have full Blockchain product.

In terms of its usage, according to Statista, about 53 percent of respondents stated that their companies are working on a supply chain use case.

In this blog, we will discuss some ways using which you can build your own business with Blockchain technology and the respective apps.

Below given the list of such ways/strategies:

1) Connect with Blockchain

As a startup, first, you come up with a new and fresh business idea. It doesn’t matter how difficult your traditional startup business idea may seem, technology can make it look perfect and seamless.

Whether you want to start a business or scale the one you are already running, blockchain can help you in a number of ways. Some of these are listed below:

-> Help you with marketing via its transparency feature and accurate tracking.

-> Help you with funding through Blockchain ICOs.

-> Help you with security through its cryptographic system.

So use the above ideas and integrate them into your startup business which can make your next success story for a long period of time.

2) Use Blockchain-powered ICO

If you are a startup and have a great business idea, one that you are sure your target audience will love. But not having the necessary funds to advance your startup vision. Then no need to worry now as it is a common problem for all startup businesses. Traditional venture capital is actually difficult to achieve.

Today, the Blockchain technology initial coin offerings (ICO) throw good news for aspiring entrepreneurs. Start thinking of the ICOs as a way to democratize the initial financing. They provide a platform to raise funds from individual investors, assuring emerging entrepreneurs that no one is alone in this.

Few things to take care of when you are starting a business with Blockchain are mentioned below:

-> Refine your idea

-> Configure the blockchain for your new token

-> Receive the seed capital to finance your new company

A number of your competitors are already benefiting from these offers, attracting huge sums of money from the ICO driven by blockchain. According to Coindesk reports, in the second quarter of 2017, entrepreneurs raised about $ 291 million through ICO, compared to $ 187 million in traditional risk funds.

Make sure you have the technical expertise to consume all the benefits that ICO has to offer. For this, you can hire a developer to help you in this effort as they can make sure that your ICO driven by blockchain serves not only to raise funds but also as a tool to create steady growth.

3) Use crypto to run your ads

In order to grow your startup business, it is important to promote it properly. In an era of widespread online advertising frauds that attract attention, promoting your startup business can be challenging as building and executing it.

Desperate to promote their products, startups often bombard their customers with torrents of bulletins, coupons, practical guides, and innumerable advertisements.

The reasons usually lack attention because business leaders do not really know what exactly their clients want. They are simply waiting for their messages to attract enough customers.

However, crypto can professionally address groups of key customers with messages that resonate with them. Blockchain combines an excellent level of tracking and transparency with the ability to collect accurate data. Together with this, it guarantees the optimal frequency of ad display for each consumer.

4) Cryptography protects your startup

As we already know that cryptography can protect your data online, defend your e-commerce site, and protect your company’s files better than any other solution.

Powered by the digital signature, as well as by private and public keys, cryptography is an incredible solution for protecting your data in today’s digital business world. The reason behind its success is that it transmits information in codes. Thus, keeping the data illegible for unauthorized users.

Youngwhan “Nick” Lee, CEO of EcoVerse and founder of the W3C Blockchain community said that “Transaction logs are verified every time they move from one blockchain node to another,” and “That helps you track and review your audits. Simple and seamless fashion.”

However, you can take the cryptography beyond the protection of the data of your startup. It can help authenticate your potential customers, separating real buyers from cybercriminals.

Some major blockchain apps are listed below that can help your business:

- Apps for Notary: Uproov

- Apps for Distributed cloud storage: Storj

- Apps for Supply chain communications

- Apps for Smart Contracts

- Apps for Payments and money transfers

- Apps for Digital identity

- Apps for Networking & IOT

- Apps for Gift cards: Gyft Block

Conclusion:

So far we have seen the list of strategies/ways in which your startup can build a great business. Using the above-mentioned ideas, it will help you quickly develop blockchain applications to redefine your startup business networks.

In addition, by hiring a reliable blockchain web development company such as ValueCoders, you can achieve this goal.

At ValueCoders, we have a proficient team of Blockchain web developers who have successfully delivered more than 4200 projects to more than 500 happy customers along with their expert software testing services around the world.

Source: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-grow-your-startup-using-blockchain-in-2019-44d4e6682147

Top funded blockchain startups & companies by total funding raised:

	Number of  Funding  Rounds	Total  Funding  Amount
Coinbase	7	$525.3M
Circle	5	$246M
Qulian Technology	3	CN¥1.5B
Bitfury Group	5	$170M
HashCash Consultants	3	$150M
Figure	2	$100M
Blockchain Industries Inc	1	$100M
Oasis Labs	5	$90M
Ledger	4	$85.1M
High Fidelity	5	$72.9M

Blockchain Technology Plus Venture Capital Equals Boston's Startup Culture

Venture Capital and Blockchain Technology in Boston’s Startup Culture

From Americaninno.com by Kirill Bensonoff Oct. 9, 2018

When people think of Boston, several things typically come to mind: cravings for clam chowder, the iconic Fenway Park, and the exaggerated “BAston” pronunciation from strangers. Lately, the city that spawned companies as diverse as Gillette and DraftKings is becoming known for its vibrant startup culture that’s launching dozens of new companies each year.

This is not surprising.

Our city has twice been named the top startup community in the U.S. by the “Innovation that Matters” report compiled by the organization 1776 and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

This fact is not lost on entrepreneurs. According to The Boston Globe, 1,869 startups are operating in Boston, and those numbers continue to increase as our venture capital scene becomes more competitive with other startup hubs including San Francisco and New York. In terms of actual investment dollars, San Francisco leads the nation, but Bloomberg’s assessment of regional startup investment found that Boston places near the top of the list in each of the last several years. This year, Boston’s venture capital initiatives jumped 15%, surpassing New York City for second place in the national rankings.

In the past, the city’s prominent universities served as a launching pad for some of the most famous platforms in the world, but those businesses typically found their way to other cities once they became popular. For instance, Facebook, which began in 2004 in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room, and Dropbox, founded by Drew Houston while he was studying at MIT, both ultimately moved to San Francisco.

Now, the combination of available venture capital and the innovative ethos promulgated by Boston’s universities is encouraging companies to stay. Therefore, as the next wave of innovation is preparing for launch, Boston is uniquely suited to meet the new demand.

The Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Movement

Just like internet startups were on the precipice of mass adoption more than two decades ago, blockchain technology is at the forefront of the innovation curve. In addition to receiving significant investment and attention from companies like Microsoft and IBM, hundreds of startups are building new platforms to meet the demands of the decentralized economy.

In 2018, nearly 700 new blockchain startups launched through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Collectively, these companies have raised $17.5 billion this year, which is more than triple the amount from the previous two years.

Not to be left on the sidelines, several prominent venture capitalists have picked up on this movement. Andreessen Horowitz launched a $300 million venture capital focused on blockchain startups, Tim Draper has committed a similar amount to various ICOs, and Sequoia Capital prominently entered the market last year.

At this year’s Boston Blockchain Week, local venture capital firm Pillar asserted themselves as the de facto financing arm of Boston’s blockchain scene. In an event roundup, Pillar encouraged ICOs looking for funding to “Call Pillar first, obviously.”

Venture Capital Streams

In many ways, the ICO model was meant to disrupt traditional capital raising methods including venture capital initiatives.

Instead, venture capital and ICOs are operating in tandem with one another. In May, Bloomberg observed, “While ICOs were supposed to disrupt venture capital, such funding in blockchain-based companies is surging, with startups raising $434 million since December, the most ever in a three-month period.”

In general, this seems to be a boom for both industries. Venture capital firms are finding fresh relevance and entrepreneurs are afforded another opportunity to finance their platforms.

The Challenges of Change

The ICO movement isn’t without its detractions.

For starters, this novel fundraising mechanism remains in a state of regulatory limbo. Although the SEC has decided that Bitcoin and Ether, the two most popular cryptocurrencies, should not be regulated as securities, there is a broad expectation that some ICOs will eventually be classified as such.

In short, VCs are participating in a game in which some of the rules are still being written.

This ambiguity is illustrative of the broad crypto movement. It’s an industry under construction, and it can change swiftly. Venture capital firms will be tasked with keeping up with this rapid innovation and the emerging legal framework that accompanies its novelty.

Boston & The Blockchain

While blockchain sentiment can fluctuate wildly, it’s evident that the decentralized ecosystem is not going away any time soon.

Many describe the blockchain economy as the third iteration of the internet, which places tremendous scale and opportunity in the industry. Of course, like any burgeoning industry, there are likely to be an abundance of failures, and blockchain prognosticators have indicated as much.

Last October, Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, told a crowd at the ETHWaterloo Hackathon in Canada that “It is an established fact that ninety percent of startups fail. And it should also be an established fact that 90 percent of these ERC20s on CoinMarketCap are going to go to zero.”

Therefore, risk management and market maturation become critical metrics for venture capitalists.

In Boston, the prominence of blockchain technology and the emergence of a dynamic startup culture are bound to coalesce. As the first generation of blockchain platforms begin emerging out of Harvard and MIT, it’s less likely that they will flee to the other coast. Boston is offering everything we need.

Source: https://www.americaninno.com/boston/from-the-community-boston/venture-capital-and-blockchain-technology-in-bostons-startup-culture/

Blockchain Startups Have an Exciting Future

What awaits blockchain startups?

While the cryptocommunity is busy worrying over the cryptocurrency market crash and another Bitcoin price drop, the ICO market … keeps growing.

From Medium by Alex Stargame August 21, 2018

2018 has become a record year in terms of the volume of ICO investments. According to a report by ICOrating, the ICO market has almost doubled in the last few years. What is more important is that this is happening against the background of depressing statistics of failing startups and cryptocurrencies being traded on stock exchanges, but not backed by working products.

In total, the ICOs of 2018 have already attracted about $11,7 billion of investment, which is 10 times more than the funds raised by ICOs for the first half of 2017.

Jeffrey Tucker, the editorial director of the American Institute for Economic Research, considers that, despite the considerable number of unsuccessful projects, the ICO market is fine:

“It does not look like a dead market to me. It’s true, half of new ICOs could not collect more than $100 thousand in the second quarter. But it speaks about the decrease in the quality of listings. For those who observed this sector for several years, there is nothing surprising in it. The market with no entry barriers will attract … well, practically everybody”, — Jeffrey Tucker states.

The appearance of a considerable quantity of insitutional investors is a distinctive feature of the ICO market in 2018. In 2018, the first national cryptocurrency has been launched and large companies have started to invest in blockchain projects.

The number of projects raising funds through an ICO has increased by 11 %, however, less than half of them have managed to conduct a successful crowdfunding campaign.

In comparison with the ICO boom of 2017, the average duration of a crowdfunding campaign has grown and now equals approximately 63 days. Only three projects in 2018 managed to finish their campaigns within one day.

Actually, now many analysts look at the ICO market much more optimistically than even three months ago. At the beginning of the year investors became much more cautious investing in ICOs, and even three months ago it was possible for projects to attract investments only through private token sales (according to ICOrating, the average number of investors per token in 2018 is only 7,871).

Despite the toughening of requirements for ICOs, more than half of startups are still launched in North America. The second place is taken by Singapore, then Great Britain and Switzerland. This, despite the growth of interest to cryptocurrencies in developing countries like Venezuela and Turkey.

Jeffrey Tucker thinks that the investors’ pessimism is connected with the fact that the community, which developed in 2017, has got used to gaining fast and big profits from ICO projects. But the market of venture investments does not work so quickly. And it is O.K. if a project does not bring profit during the first half of the year.

A curious tendency — 2018 has become a boom for games on blockchain. I don’t mean only the traditional “collection” projects like CryptoKitties, but also indie- and video games, where developers have started to introduce blockchain technologies. Let alone a considerable quantity of game platforms and casinos on blockchain.

As computer games are one of the most rapidly developing and promising spheres, we can hope for a new boom of blockchain startups and the growth of investors’ interest to ICOs.

Source: https://cryptocurrencyhub.io/what-awaits-blockchain-startups-b242295aa42d

Canadian Cannabis Startups Receiving Investments

Canadian Cannabis Accelerator to Invest $1.5 Million in Startups

International Cannabis Business Conference
By Anthony Johnson on August 23, 2018

Overall, the legal cannabis industry is booming with record revenue levels across the board, even with a few hiccups (ahem, California) along the way. However, the super competitive marijuana market and rampant over regulation (that will hopefully lessen over time) mandates the need for capital to survive, expand, and thrive in the industry.

With Canada gearing up for legalization across the country on October 17th, cannabis accelerator Leaf Forward will be making another round of investments in startups, totaling $1.5 million according to their press release published by New Cannabis Ventures:

Leaf Forward, Canada’s first and leading cannabis business accelerator, is pleased to announce it is now accepting applications to its Toronto based, 12-week accelerator program for early stage cannabis companies. Successful applicants will receive a $35,000 cash investment and $15,000 worth of programming and services. The first cohort will fund 4-6 companies and will be offered up to three times annually.
Investments will be made from the Leaf Forward Accelerator Fund (“Accelerator Fund”), which received a $500,000 lead investment from Green Acre Capital, the leading Canadian cannabis venture fund.
During each 12-week accelerator cohort, a small group of carefully selected cannabis startups work closely with the Leaf Forward team, industry leaders, and subject matter experts to develop their products, grow their businesses, and prepare to raise their next round of funding.
Leaf Forward has supported 50 entrepreneurs over the past year, our 12-week program equips cannabis startups with the tools, connections, and knowledge they need to succeed. With Leaf Forward’s inaugural Accelerator Fund we can now provide early stage companies with capital, in addition to our leading programing and outstanding mentor network.

One of the highlights of the International Cannabis Business Conference‘s history was hosting the Canopy Rivers‘ pitch event that awarded a million dollar investment opportunity to the upstart Bella Vista Cannabis company. The ICBC is now hosting its own Mom and Pop Pitch Event give local Oregon businesses the chance to pitch their business to a room of investors and entrepreneurs at the upcoming Portland conference this September 27th-28th, with one craft cannabis company walking away with $10,000 from the ICBC, no strings attached. (If you know of a deserving Oregon company, please urge them to apply.)

We’ve already seen a massive shift in investors’ mindsets towards cannabis, so we can expect to see more investors of all stripes jumping in to take advantage of a burgeoning sector, that despite all of its difficulties, is still poised for huge growth. If you already have a cannabis business, an idea for one, or maybe an ancillary company, there has never been a better time to seek out investors. While most of the big financial news seems to be coming out of Canada, reverse mergers with Canadian companies provide an opportunity for U.S. entrepreneurs as well, a topic the Portland ICBC will cover. There are many obstacles to succeeding in the cannabis industry, but the bold are often the ones rewarded.

Source:
https://internationalcbc.com/canadian-cannabis-accelerator-to-invest-1-5-million-in-startups/

Startups on Blockchain are the Next Big Thing

Six Reasons Why Startups on Blockchain is the Next Big Thing

August 22, 2018

Looking for an industry with an untapped potential on blockchain? It might be closer than you think.

Helping startups grow is a large global market. It is called crowdfunding: entrepreneurs raise funds by pre-selling their future product. If the idea is cool and resonates with the public, the authors collect enough funds to launch the product. However, it is still severely under served and is confined by embarrassing & archaic restrictions.

A crowdfunding platform that kicked off back in 2012, Boomstarter.Network is now aiming to disrupt this market with blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and even mining tools. Boomstarter has already garnered investment from a hedge fund that earlier bought Telegram and Dropbox. The fintech team is leveraging the emerging technology to break the geographical limits and remove intermediaries.

We’ve put together important data points to explore how this bold plan just might work and gain value for startups and investors alike. Let’s roll!

Size of crowdfunding market is huge

There are millions of current and potential entrepreneurs in the world willing to make their dreams true by validating their idea through pre-sale. If the product is great, the pre-sale will bring funds to develop the product. The current total volume of crowdfunding exceeds 6.5 billion dollars.

Global crowdfunding is ripe for disruption

Crowdfunding was growing rapidly: in 2017 it increased by 49% globally. However, projections for the following years show a steady slowdown. Obviously, the expected decline is due to a number of limiting factors. The demand from startups cannot be satisfied with the traditional platforms which are infamous for geographical restrictions and slow transactions.

Erasing geographical limits will skyrocket market growth

Existing crowdfunding platforms are estimated to be serving a mere one-third of the world’s startups. One of the busiest platforms, Kickstarter, only allows entrepreneurs from 22 industrialized countries. With cryptocurrencies, crowdfunding will be effective, quick and borderless. This will surge demand and participation by startups from all over the world.

Removing intermediaries will help startups thrive 

A dreaded meltdown factor of the existing crowdfunding world is waiting time for startups to receive the money from their backers. Startups wait for weeks and often cannot get the funds in time to begin developing their product according to their plan. It happens over and over again because the current system is overly dependent on third parties like banks or payment systems.

Using blockchain, smart contracts and crypto act as a medium for startups and backers to interact will reduce transaction time to minutes and guarantee payments with no intermediaries involved.

Crypto-mining as a tool driving engagement

While introducing an all-crypto platform, Boomstarter.Network says it has a plan for those who are not yet into digital currencies. The fintech company claims to offer tools to contribute cryptocurrencies to the projects by interested sponsors. The idea is to unite supporters of a given startup in a cloud-mining pool so that the amount of crypto they generate all together becomes substantial.

This is a pioneering non-material way to support startups, solving the common issue when people don’t buy, but only repost a startup’s offer on their social media. For startups, it is an interesting tool for building an active and motivated community. 

Good competition to disrupt the market with blockchain

There are other teams out there that aim to address the grievances of this expanding market. However, none of them have shown an integrated solution which also takes care of the vast audiences that have not yet embraced crypto.

With this in mind, Boomstarter.Network seems uniquely positioned to garner a big share of the global market just waiting to be disrupted. The company’s token, designed to be used as a means of payment on the platform, performs as a practical representation of value. It will be deployed to build real businesses that serve real purposes.

By providing universally accessible tools to help startups grow wherever they are, it is possible to boost demand and traction for wider adoption. This will bring positive movement to the token’s price, drawing in more entrepreneurs, supporters, and investors.

Source: https://ambcrypto.com/six-reasons-why-startups-on-blockchain-is-the-next-big-thing/

Private equity giant Leonard Green takes another chance on retail, buying hot online retailer Shade Store for $325 million

Terms were not announced, but CNBC has learned the deal is worth $325 million.

• Private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners is acquiring customized treatment company The Shade Store.
• Terms were not announced, but CNBC has learned the deal is worth $325 million.
• The Shade Store sells its custom-made window treatments online and in 60 showrooms across the country.
• The Shade Store start out in 2006 as a website.

Lauren Hirsch 9 Aug 2018

Private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners announced plans Thursday to acquire The Shade Store, a customized window treatment company.

The deal was valued at about $325 million, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC, which first reported the deal. The sources requested anonymity because the terms are confidential.

The acquisition highlights the opportunity private equity firms continue to see in niche retailers that marry online and offline businesses, despite the challenges the retail industry has seen over the past several years. For Leonard Green, it marks a shift in strategy away from its larger retail bets in recent years, like J.Crew, David's Bridal and BJ's Wholesale Club. Many private equity firms with retail expertise have shifted their focus away from large retailers with expansive real estate, as they look instead toward smaller brands with more runway.

The Shade Store sells its window products online and in 60 showrooms across the country.

It started in 2006 as a website that offered customized window treatments. Two years later, it launched showrooms in New York and San Francisco to promote its products and allow customers see them in person.

Many online retailers, including Bonobos and Warby Parker, have opened brick-and-mortar stores in recent years, because the market for digital shopping has become flooded and the cost to compete for online eyeballs has risen.

The Shade Store sold to private equity firm Great Hill Partners in 2013. Great Hill's investments have included online brands like home furnishings company Wayfair and vitamin and supplement seller Vitacost.

Under Great Hill, the drapery retailer built out showrooms across the East Coast and on the West Coast, the Northwest and states including Arizona, Ohio and Illinois. It often places those showrooms in clusters, to appeal to shoppers whose interest may be piqued by driving past one, but who may not be quite ready to buy drapes.

Its shoppers spend on average $2,800 in showrooms and $1,000 online. Its products includes shades, drapery and blinds, which it customizes with designer materials, trims and decorative borders. It offers installation and free shipping.

Under Leonard Green's ownership, the company expects to continue to expand its footprint across the U.S. The customized window treatment business remains highly fragmented, dominated by mom-and-pop offerings.

It may also go further into private label, having already signed a partnership with RH, the home furnishings company formerly known as Restoration Hardware. It will also look to increase its sales to hotel chains, restaurants, gyms or other businesses.

Article Source: CNBC

Blockchain Startup Brings in $5.5 Million in Startup Funding

Blockchain Music Startup Raises $5.5 Million in Series A Funding

August 12, 2018
https://www.ccn.com/blockchain-music-startup-raises-5-5-million-in-series-a-funding/

Blockchain startup, Audius, a decentralised, community-owned music sharing platform billed as the blockchain’s answer to Soundcloud has announced the successful completion of a $5.5 million Series A funding round as it launches the world’s first ever blockchain-based music sharing protocol. Made on August 8, 2018, the announcement revealed that the funding round was led by General Catalyst and Lightspeed, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Pantera Capital, 122West and Ascolta Ventures.

Blockchain Startup Disrupts Traditional Music-Sharing Model

Audius describes itself as “a blockchain-based alternative to SoundCloud to help artists connect directly with fans and monetize their work.”  According to its developers, its protocol exists in perpetuity, owned and controlled by a decentralized community of artists, music lovers and developers.

The platform aims to disrupt the traditional music-sharing service model which some criticize for a perceived lack of artist control and transparency. Founder Ranidu Lankage is a Sri Lankan pop artist who is best known for going platinum at 19 with ‘Oba Magemai’, a Sinhalese hip-hop single credited with bringing in a new age of Sinhalese pop music. Following the release of his commercially successful debut album under Sony Records, he chose to go independent so as to maintain control over his work.

As part of his mission to solidify artist control over creative content, Ranidu and fellow cofounders Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning decided that blockchain technology had the power to give back control and creative power to artists by fixing the centralization and transparency problem. Audius was the result of this endeavor, and in between working to help artists with technology, Ranidu still finds time for the occasional performance at international events like Coachella and Ultra.

Audius Success Stories

One of the best known success stories spawned by Audius is Electronic Dance Music (EDM) artist 3LAU, who is famous in equal measure for his crytocurrency knowledge and his music. Speaking recently about his thoughts on Audius, he said:

“Artists need decentralized models for music sharing, and a stake in the platforms they contribute content to. Blockchain allows Audius to do this with tokens and decentralized voting-based governance so artists have a say in how the platform evolves. It’s a very elegant model and one which, as an artist, I find immensely attractive.”

Using Audius, artists can connect directly with fans and distribute content to them without the involvement of a middleman. Like SoundCloud, they are able to build, nurture, and engage with their fan base on the platform, but with the key difference being that their accounts are preserved permanently on a blockchain with no risk of a third party shutdown. The platform also gives artists full insight into who is streaming their content, where, and when, all in the midst of transparent, real-time payment.

Audius currently has an advisory team made up of Augur cofounder Jeremy Gardner, EDM superstar 3LAU, Pantera Capital Partner Paul Veradittakit, EA founder Bing Gordon and BitTorrent chief architect Greg Hazel.

August 12, 2018
https://www.ccn.com/blockchain-music-startup-raises-5-5-million-in-series-a-funding/

Traditional VC Funding Disrupted by Token Equity

This Berlin Startup is Disrupting Traditional VC Funding Through Tokenized Equity

Article from Rebecca Campbell at NewsBTC.com
July 30, 2018

Traditional venture capital (VC) funding is often plagued with long and complicated processes, making it difficult for company founders to connect with investors.

For one company, that is creating the world’s first decentralized stock exchange in conjunction with Binance and the Malta Stock Exchange, it doesn’t have to be that way. Berlin-based Neufund is an Ethereum-based protocol for securities’ tokenization and issuance. It allows any type of financial asset to be tokenized and liquidized. It’s also aiming to bring disruption to the traditional VC markets.

Speaking to NewsBTC, Zoe Adamovicz, CEO and co-founder of Neufund, knows firsthand how hard it is to find and close investments. As an experienced entrepreneur and angel investor, Adamovicz decided to found Neufund with fellow founder and CTO, Marcin Rudolf, to allow startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and established companies to legally issue a new concept of asset ownership: tokenised equity.

Under German jurisdiction, the platform provides organisations with a legal and technical framework to conduct fully legal and safe equity token offerings (ETOs). Disrupting traditional VC funding, Neufund is doing things faster, easier, and bringing the necessary liquidity needed.

“We are a team of regulatory and blockchain experts, on a mission to change the way projects are funded,” Adamovicz said. “Our ultimate goal is to open creativity for good. We want to empower people all around the world, making it possible for them to pursue their projects and dreams.”

Neufund has announced the first six companies that will be conducting their ETOs with them: Brille24, an eyewear pioneer, Uniti, a Swedish electric car startup, Next Big Thing, a startup incubator for the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain ventures, mySwooop, an omni-channel re-commerce platform that buys and sells new and used electronics, Blockstate, a company creating products for the future of finance, and Emflux Motors, an electric superbike company.

It is these ETOs that are looked at as offering a new era of legal and secure ICOs. According to Neufund, equity tokens, serving as equity instruments, empower those with limited investing capital to use fractional ownership as a means of investing.

According to Adamovicz, a form of universal token that is able to represent real-world business will replace utility tokens as investment instruments. She believes it is only then that “the investor’s and issuer’s incentives can be aligned and economic models can be mathematically consistent.”

She adds that ordinary shares will be replaced with some form of programmable shares or technologically enhanced shares. Consequently, she believes that “security tokens will replace both the shares used in today’s financial world, and the utility tokens used in ICOs.”

Creating the First Decentralized Stock Exchange

Earlier this month, the equity fundraising platform announced that it was collaborating with MSX, an innovation vehicle of the Malta Stock Exchange, and Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

The aim is to create a regulated and decentralised global stock exchange for listing and trading tokenised securities alongside of crypto assets. With market equity tokens projected to reach $1 trillion by 2020, the partnerships will make it possible for companies to trade their equity in a legally-binding way on the biggest crypto exchange in the world, said Adamovicz. She adds that liquidity is one of the major values of equity tokens versus traditional investment assets.

“We aim to bring access to [an] international community of investors gathered around Binance, and thanks to MSE all trades will be secured with proper licenses,” she said.

Source:
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/07/30/this-berlin-startup-is-disrupting-traditional-vc-funding-through-tokenised-equity/

Healthcare venture capital funding to hit new high in 2018

Healthcare venture capital funding continues to pour into startups, and the pace this year is already expected to top 2017's total figure of $15 billion, according to data from the MoneyTree report from PwC and CB insights.

During the second quarter of 2018, healthcare companies raised $5.3 billion in venture capital (VC) funding across 216 deals, on par with the $5.3 billion raised during the first quarter.

Across all industries, venture capital-backed companies raised $23 billion across 1,416 deals—a new record, PwC found.

The healthcare sector was second only to $8.9 billion raised in 610 deals completed in the internet sector. Healthcare represented 15 percent of all VC investments during the quarter.

Not only were there more deals, but they appeared to be getting bigger. More than 45 mega-rounds raised $100 million or more, with the second quarter marking the third straight quarter with more than 30 mega-rounds.

Two healthcare startups were among the largest U.S. deals in the second quarter. California-based Allogene Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing cancer treatment therapies, raised $300 million from venture firms Vida Venture, BellCo Capital and TPG Capital, which has also invested with health insurance provider Humana in the acquisition of Kindred Healthcare and Curo Health.

Grail, a disease diagnosis company based in California, also raised $300 million during the second quarter, with funding from Sequoia Capital China, Ally Bridge Group and Blue Pool Capital.

Beyond venture capital, the healthcare sector has also seen an influx of private equity funding over the last few years, though rising valuations have curbed the appetites of some potential investors in the sector.

Amy Baxter on HealthExec.com
July 16, 2018
Source: https://www.healthexec.com/topics/healthcare-economics/healthcare-venture-capital-funding-high-2018