After many tears and sweating, and a lot of hard work, 6 lucky startups will now move to BlockStart’s 3rd Pilot stage. But… what to expect?

The last few weeks were a very stressful and intense period for BlockStart’s 10 blockchain startups, as they reached the end of the programme’s 3rd Prototype stage. BlockStart’s committee of experts joined together in a series of e-pitchings to learn more about what our startups had been doing for the past 4 months, while further developing their Minimum Viable Products (MVP) and deciding on the best go-to-market strategy. Out of these online pitches, 6 teams were selected to move forward to the Pilot stage of the programme, that will end with a Demo Day on 24 February.

Moving to the Pilot stage

During the next 2 months, our 6 startups will have a unique opportunity to validate in real life conditions their blockchain solutions with selected pioneering SME adopters (previously matched during the Prototype stage) and work towards product/market fit.

The maximum amount of funding that each blockchain developer can receive is €4,000 to implement the solution within the end-users’ systems, as well as the costs to the developer to eventually work on-site with the SME adopters (should this be possible due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic); while an SME adopter may receive up to €3,000 to compensate for their engagement with developers along the Pilot stage.

The 6 selected blockchain startups will have the opportunity to present their solution in an exclusive event open to sector industry SMEs, large corporates, investors and intermediaries like incubators, accelerators and associations: the Demo Day. BlockStart’s Second Demo Day, held in June this year, joined together more than 150 participants, and was a wonderful opportunity for startup developers from the previous acceleration programme to showcase their main achievements and reveal their final blockchain solutions.

A successful presentation and demonstration of the blockchain-based solution at TRL 7-8 will result in a successful completion of the Pilot stage.

With this final stage, BlockStart intends to facilitate relationships between blockchain developers and adopters, provide specialized mentoring for the implementation of the solutions developed during the Prototype stage and assure a successful exit for blockchain-based solutions that is mutually beneficial to developers and end-user SMEs.

Know more about the 6 selected startups

The startups that have reached BlockStart’s Pilot stage are:

  • AgeVolt (Bratislava, Slovakia): established in 2019, Emobility adoption has problems of inadequate charging infrastructure & electricity demand imbalances for the grid. AgeVolt an EV Charging Digital Ecosystem that comprises of Smart Chargers, an Energy Management System & a Digital Platform (powered by blockchain and AI/ML). This reduces the Total Cost of Ownership for charger owners and EV drivers whilst helping to balance the electricity grid.
  • BlockTac (Matadepera, Spain): established in 2018, BlockTac fights fake consumer products and data with their certificates and single-use digital seals registered with Blockchain technology, designed for brand protection and consumer engagement. And with their Blockchain-of-things devices, that communicate directly with IoT sensors, encrypt the data, and store it in a public Blockchain.
  • Comunitaria (Sevilla, Spain): established in 2018, Comunitaria works to make communities more prosperous and economically sovereign by promoting the local economy with social currencies.
  • Digital Village (Paris, France): established in 2020, Digital Village  is a recomposition of social media, gaming, and e-commerce. DV is the first real-time sustainable Multiplayer Metaverse connected to its Social Marketplace, which merges the physical and digital world with its social graph blockchain interface, Village Protocol, and allows real utility of digital assets.
  • BlockFrauds – a Fardoe Software business (London, United Kingdom): established in 2019, BlockFrauds helps insurers detect fraud more efficiently and effectively by creating an ecosystem of their data and tools, applying cutting edge technologies including AI and their proprietary algorithms to advanced speech and image analytics, then enables collaboration by compliantly sharing that intelligence on a private blockchain that acts as a fraud bureau.
  • Hopu (Murcia, Spain): established in 2014, Hopu brings innovation through the latest technologies such as AI, IoT and Data-Quality. They support decisions for environmental assessment and digital transformation through data-powered tools with dashboards, decision support tools and our genuine IoT devices to monitor (Smart Spot).

Stay in touch and follow up

We would like to thank all the 10 teams that have successfully completed the Prototype stage of BlockStart’s 3rd Acceleration Programme. Our committee of experts had a tough time deliberating over so many qualified prototypes. Missing the cut at the Prototype stage may hurt, but we will do our best to follow-up all our startups the best way we can.

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