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Shuonan Chen is a faculty member at Singularity University, whose mission is to leverage cutting-edge technology, including blockchain, to solve some of the world's biggest problems. These problems range from environmental challenges and renewable energy to space travel and disaster response. This ties in with her work as a founding partner of Agile VC, an early-stage venture capital firm focusing on finding B2B solutions at the enterprise level. Agile VC works primarily with blockchain technology, because of its ability to store information cheaply, keep better records, and allow for quicker and more efficient communication. Shuonan discusses her three tips for giving yourself a better chance of receiving VC funding–making sure your physical location matches your market and industry, being able to clearly articulate why you're the best team to solve a particular problem, and being able to articulate how you are different, and therefore more likely to be successful, than your competitors. For more information, visit www.su.org and www.agileventurecapital.com.
In order to solve several different problems in the cryptospace, including the legitimacy of security tokens (as opposed to utility tokens) and liquidity issues, VaultBank several different solutions, which all contribute to their goal of bridging the gap between traditional stocks and bonds, and cryptocurrency. VaultBank is currently developing their own decentralized crypto exchange with fiat gateway, which will primarily be used to launch security token ICOs. Users will also receive a debit card linked to their account, which will allow them to use their crypto for everyday purchases. This will go live in the US and the European Union and will spread to the rest of the world. Finally, the VaultBank hedge fund, backed by the VaultBank company and powered by Random Forest Capital's AI, will allow VaultBank token holders to invest and receive dividends. Their ICO pre-sale is currently live, with the full ICO coming next month. For more information, visit www.vaultbank.io.
Amdocs, a 35+ year veteran in their industry, provides a range of customer experience solutions for some of the world's most successful telecommunications, media, and entertainment companies, from digital engagement to a software-powered network. Their main focus is on digital intelligence business support, and the successful integration of AI into business roles and functions, as well as personalized and contextual customer engagement.One of their more popular solutions, which many people may not know, is the chatbot, which can be found on different websites across the Internet, including Facebook. Shannon also discusses interesting changes in customer support over the last 20 years, including the change from call centers to AI, the shift in the way that companies interact with their clients, the future of AI, and the biggest ways that companies can integrate AI and digital intelligence into their businesses. For more information, visit www.amdocs.com.
One of the biggest problems with content creation in today's world is that content creators receive far less monetary compensation than they should, with the majority of the profits going to distributors. Synereo hopes to change that, by allowing artists and creators to monetize their works through the Synereo platform and reward their followers directly. Synereo allows creators to broadcast their content through social media, allowing fans to send them cryptocurrency in return. Synereo also rewards content curators for their part in distribution with tips, which incentivizes them to continue to curate content, and allows content to reach a wider audience. Ultimately, this creates a much more democratic and fair monetization flow for all parties. Synereo began in 2014 and has thousands of users, and will be undergoing a major update in mid-February 2018. Changes will include updates to the website, including threaded comment sections, a mobile app, and more. Rogayeh also briefly discusses the perceptions around and the future of how we create and consume content. For more information, visit www.synereo.com.
The idea behind ShoCard is to allow its users to provide mobile digital identity verification that doesn't need to interface with other databases, which has inherent security risks–the recent data breach at Equifax is just the latest example of this. Through the mobile app, users are able to create a digital identity that is verified with a private key and stored on the blockchain, and that they can share with others whenever they wish. Use cases include finance transactions, such as by speeding up KYC processes, for both traditional financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges. ShoCard also has enterprise applications, where cloud-based services can streamline their verification and log-on methods. Because of the app, and all the verifications created through it, exist on the blockchain, the information on it cannot be altered or otherwise faked. Armin also discusses trends in the ID verification industry, and the future that he sees for them–and hopes to help create. For more information, visit www.shocard.com.
Fundcru is a blockchain-powered fundraising platform that will be a cross between GoFundMe and Groupon. Users are able to create campaigns and then fundraise through three different methods — traditional fundraising where individuals donate directly to a cause, through cryptocurrency, and through an e-commerce platform. In this way, visitors are able to purchase discounted goods, similar to Groupon, with 25% of the gross price going directly to fund campaigns, without having to be asked directly to donate to someone. Merchants already do this with Groupon, but this method solves the problem of customer retention, by helping businesses find customers who are more likely to return, even after the deal is over. Fundcru will also offer real-time analytics for campaigns, to let their creators see how they are doing. The beta will be launched at the beginning of 2018, with the full site coming a few months after. Due to Fundcru's hard work, they will already have a high number of campaigns to choose from. For more information, visit www.fundcru.com.
CoinPayments offers its users a wide range of payment processing abilities for over 75 different cryptocurrencies, including an online multi-coin wallet, merchant tools and a simple point-of-sale interface, automatic coin conversion, the ability to buy, sell, and trade coins, and more. It's easy to get started–just create an account, download the plugins you need, and you're on your way–and users have the ability to fully customize their accounts. All of their financial tools are designed to simplify entry into the crypto market for people who are not tech-savvy, and they currently have over half a million customers in 192 countries. There is a monthly Coin Vote, which allows users to replace the lowest-performing coins with 2-3 new ones. New coins have 90 days to prove themselves. It costs $1 per vote, and all that money is donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. CoinPayments is getting ready for some exciting new milestones over the next year, including a new version of their platform, adding portfolio management tools, laying the foundation for their own exchange, mining capabilities, and more. For more information, visit www.coinpayments.net.
Etheralabs was set up as a venture capital accelerator for start-ups and companies working with early-stage innovations in the cryptospace. As advisors, they help those they work with look at various problems relating to raising capital and funding for their projects, from token design to the business's underlying data. Etheralabs also acts as an intelligence platform for institutional investors who are interested in participating in the cryptospace, but as yet are still unsure how to do that. Their goal is to provide a standardized way to monitor and value digital assets. They are currently working on building the technology necessary to create their own exchange, and hope to go live with that in a few months. Feinberg also discusses the challenges that ever-changing and unclear regulations have on the cryptospace, as well as what he sees as the future of the industry. For more information, visit www.etheralabs.io.
One of the biggest problems with blockchain currently is that it cannot handle large amounts of transactions at the same time, and such transactions are not inexpensive–for example, many blockchains cannot handle more than three or four transactions per second. As adoption of blockchain technology grows, this problem will only get larger. To solve this, GoNetwork has developed a mobile network infrastructure for Ethereum and ERC20 tokens that would allow thousands of transactions per second. Being able to scale to allow this many transactions simultaneously would have the effect of reducing the cost per transaction, and would be ideal for anyone who is creating their own business or application that requires fast and cheap transactions. Their idea was one of the winning submissions at the ETHWaterloo Hackathon. For more information, visit www.gonetwork.co.
Bread's Bitcoin wallet, which has was created several years ago, has undergone a recent transformation. The newly re-designed wallet is a simple and secure way to buy, sell, send, and receive Bitcoin that is easy and intuitive for both newcomers and experts alike to use, through both iOS and Android apps. Because it is decentralized, users hold their own funds through their wallets, and Bread has no access to or control over those funds. Bread is also beginning a token sale on December 15th. Token holders will enjoy access to premium financial services from other companies, discounts, and a loyalty and rewards program that includes a tiered system of 24/7 live customer support–one of the many suggestions from Bread's active online community, and one of the first of its kind. Aaron and Brent also discuss their ideas on safe financial practices for blockchain and crypto companies in the current dangerous environment, as well as their thoughts on the future of the markets. For more information on Bread's upcoming token sale, visit token.breadapp.com. To learn more about their wallet, visit www.breadapp.com.
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