A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS
- BitFury, the Bitcoin and private Blockchain infrastructure provider, secured $30M funding from Credit China Holdings. Link
- BitPesa, a Bitcoin-based remittance services provider, secured $2.5M funding in Series A round led by Draper Associates, with participation from Greycroft Partners, Blockchain Capital, BnkToTheFuture.com, Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital, Zephyr Management. Link
- Neufund, a Blockchain-based ICO offering platform for startups, secured €2M ($2.13M) funding from Atlantic Labs, Klaas Kersting and a group of superangels. Link
- Cambridge Blockchain, a Blockchain-based technology solutions provider, secured $2M funding in convertible debt notes from Partech Ventures and Digital Currency Group. Link
- Microsoft and blockchain startup Tierion partner on digital identity initiative. Link
- The National Bank of Abu Dhabi has introduced real-time cross-border payments on a blockchain by integrating technology from industry firm Ripple. Link
- American Express has joined Hyperledger Project, a collaborative cross-industry effort created to advance blockchain technology. Link
- Three large technology companies, Cisco, Bosch, and Foxconn have teamed up to create the IoT blockchain consortium. Link
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia has issued a cryptobond for Queensland Treasury Corporation in the first trial run of the bank’s private, permissioned blockchain platform for the end-to-end issuance of bonds. Link
- Swiss banking giant UBS bank has partnered with German energy company Innogy and automobile manufacturing company ZF to provide a blockchain-backed Car eWallet that enables charging of electric cars. Link
- The Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) has announced the launch of its blockchain-based asset custody system, in partnership with IBM. Link
- New York’s Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has announced plans to build post-trade distributed ledger framework for derivatives. Link
- Seven of Europe’s biggest banks have announced partnership on the development of Blockchain platform for SMEs. Link
- The research arm of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – India’s central bank – has tested blockchain solutions for core banking processes in the country. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Neufund (2016, Barcelona, $2.13M) – Blockchain-based venture capital fund. It offers Initial Coin Offering to new startups. Backed by Atlantic Labs.
Signatura (2015, Buenos Aires) – Digital signatures and document notarization on the blockchain.
LEADER BOARD – BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS
Financial Services
Circle (2013, Boston, $136M) – Digital currency wallet and international money transfer service provider. Backed by Accel Partners, Goldman Sachs, Baidu, General Catalyst Partners, IDG Capital Partners, Oak Investment Partners, CICC, CreditEase, China Everbright, Fenway Summer, Breyer Capital, Pantera Capital, Wanxiang America, Digital Currency Group.
Ripple (2012, SF, $90.5M) – Open source payment protocol. Backed by Standard Chartered, AME Cloud Ventures, Seagate, CME Group, IDG Capital Partners, RRE Ventures, Venture 51, Core VC, ChinaRock Capital Management, SBI Holdings, Route 66 Ventures, Camp One Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Santander InnoVentures, Digital Currency Group, Tusk Ventures, CRCM Venture Capital, SCB Digital Ventures.
Digital Asset Holdings (2014, NYC, $67M) – Blockchain-based trade settlement solution provider. Backed Accenture, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, CME Group, BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO Bank, Australian Securities Exchange, PNC Financial Services Group, Deutsche, DTCC, ICAP, FinTech Innovation Lab, Santander InnoVentures.
Enterprise
Filament Networks (2012, Reno, $21M) – A decentralized Internet of Things stack. Backed by Techstars, Crosslink Capital, Resonant Venture Partners, Samsung Venture Investment, Pantera Capital, Bullpen Capital, Verizon Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Working Lab Capital, Zenstone Venture Capital, VTF Capital.
Keybase (2013, NYC, $11M) – Identity mapping service via a public key encryption tool. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Corazon Capital.
Technology
Blockstream (2014, SF, $76M) – Provides sidechain solutions to improve blockchain. Backed by Khosla Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective, Horizons Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Real Ventures, Digital Garage, DG Incubation, SK Ventures, Future Perfect Ventures, Maiden Lane, Mosaic Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, AXA Strategic Ventures, Seven Seas Partners.
BitFury (2012, SF, $95M) – Full-service blockchain techno
Chain (2014, SF, $44M) – Provider of blockchain networks and applications to businesses. Backed by Capital One, VISA, Nasdaq, SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, RRE Ventures, Betaworks, Homebrew, Fiserv, Orange, Firestartr, Pantera Capital, Citi Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, BoxGroup.
Consumer
FirstBlood Technologies (2016, Boston, $5.5M) – Blockchain-based eSpo
Augur Project (2014, SF, $5M) – Decentralized prediction market based on Blockchain.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For latest update, visit Blockchain Applications feed.