On October 29, more than 100 viewers joined BlockStart’s Demo Day online event, to hear from our top 5 startups and discuss how to shape Europe’s blockchain future
On the 29th of October, at 3pm CET (Brussels Time), all eyes were on BlockStart‘s Demo Day online event. Over 100 people joined the streaming of the event, and more than 50 followed the discussion live on BlockStart’s Facebook page.
The event was presented by João Fernandes, Project Manager & Investment Analyst at Bright Pixel and leader of the BlockStart consortium. João made a brief introduction to the subject that was going to be discussed for the next two hours. After the introduction, Benjamin Júnior, Executive Board Member at Bright Pixel, presented how BlockStart is trying to support the development and growth of blockchain startups through its 3 steps (Ideation Kick-off > Prototype Stage > Pilot Stage) Acceleration Programme.
Max Lautenschläger, Co-Founder and COO of Iconic Holding, a global crypto asset manager and blockchain VC was the keynote speaker, and took over the stage in a passionate speech about what areas and industries are already getting disrupted, what key players are already building on blockchain, how can startups benefit from one of the major trends and where can they get funding as a blockchain startup. For more than half an hour, Max delighted the participants – mainly composed by startups, SMEs and innovation ecosystem intermediaries such as incubators, accelerators, associations, among others – and questions just kept popping up.
During the discussion, it became clear that venture capital is still the best chance for blockchain startups who are looking for funding and that China, with its bold investments, has been increasing its share of selected blockchain investments, although the USA market still remains the number one player in this area. In Europe, a lot of VCs seem to be investing in blockchain startups, while at the same time Europe is trying to build its own blockchain ecosystem support.
Figure 1: screenshot of Max’s presentation
Following the keynote, Vytautas Černiauskas, expert at CIVITTA, one of BlockStart’s consortium members, amazed the viewers with the presentation of an exciting qualitative research made in the scope of the project, on the status of blockchain technology (i.e. where blockchain is successfully applied today, and which sectors would benefit the most from the application of blockchain-based solutions). Participants were also able to learn more about BlockStart’s “Do You Need Blockchain” Assessment Tool, that assesses a company readiness level when implementing this type of technology.
Then it was the time everyone was waiting for and it was the moment for BlockStart’s top 5 blockchain startups to shine! 2bSmart, Datarella, Infidia, Kedeon and Rexs.io pitched their solutions, developed throughout BlockStart’s Acceleration Programme and with the help of the programme’s mentors and experts.
Figure 2: screenshot of BlockStart’s top 5 blockchain startups pitches
The event was very dynamic, allowing participants to pose questions directly to the startups through a chat group. Some polls were also added in the beginning of the event, to engage people to interact and share their expectations regarding the Demo Day.
BlockStart was several times mentioned as a great example of the type of programme that helps blockchain startups and allows good matches to be made with innovative SMEs willing to adopt blokchain-based products and services.
What a great event this was, indeed! Whether you didn’t have the chance to watch the stream or you liked it so much and you want to see it again, here is the recording of the event:
You can also download the full presentation of the event:
