The Blockchain Startups To Watch

Last year was definitely the year for blockchain technology. More people became involved in this technology, and as a result, there are now a growing number of startups, which are starting to harness the power of blockchain. We have narrowed down some of the best ones to watch in 2018. 1) Simple Token This startup helps companies to make use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies without needing to bring in experts and programmers. Simple Token allows the tools to design, launch and manage their own branded tokens, which are anchored to Ethereum. It was founded by Jason Goldberg and Nishith Shah in July 2016, and it’s vision is; “For a robust on-demand suite of software that gives everything you need to create and manage your branded token economy without your developers having to learn blockchain code.” 2) Elliptic This tracks illicit Bitcoin flows and provides information to financial institutions and law enforcement agencies. It was founded back in October 2013, by Adam Joyce, James Smith and Tom Robinson. The highly educated trio designed this startup that has raised $5million in its Series A round in March 2017, from investors that have been led by Paladin Capital Group. 3) Guaranteed Unique Ticketing System GUTS has been designed to lead a revolution in the ticketing industry by making it impossible to re-sell tickets illegally, or at a higher price. Users register their ownership of SMART tickets, which are virtual tickets that you use on your phone. You can re-sell your ticket at any time, with the stipulation that you cannot make a profit. They are already said to have sold more than 10,000 tickets for 50 events in the last year, and it has been predicted that they will sell over 1 million tickets in 2019. 4) Smart Valor This is a blockchain startup, which has been set up to ‘reinvent private banking’. The blockchain enabled platform has been designed for investors, asset issuers and facilitators to exchange values globally. This has been designed with the aim to build bridges between traditional and virtual currencies. It was founded in early 2017, by Olga Feldmeier in Switzerland with an initial investment round of CHF £1.5million.   5) Billon They have created a platform for financial transactions, using the distributed ledger to exchange currencies. You can send and receive money in real time, wherever and whenever you want, and it received two million euros in July 2017, from the EU’s research and innovation programme ‘Horizon 2020’. There are offices in both the UK and Poland, and work began in December 2012. 6) AidCoin This has been backed by Charity Stars, and uses the Ethereum blockchain to track transactions, cryptocurrencies to transfer funds and smart contracts to ensure donations are spent correctly. It aim is to boost trust and transparency in the charity sector. In its presale, it has raised over $4million. Image Source: Flickr Sponsored by