Philipp Sandner - Head of Frankfurt School Blockchain Center, Chairman of ITSA, Business Angel and crypto Investor In our conversation with Professor Sandner, we discussed the lifecycle of a blockchain company, the challenges, and the issues the entrepreneurs face when launching a company. We talked about the potential industries that may be disrupted by blockchain, the industries startups should focus on and 4 main domains where blockchain is the most applicable. We also discuss the protocols startups should look into when building an application, the investment sources - traditional fundraising, ICOs, and STOs. Professor Sandner shared his views on tokenizing equity, the future of crowdfunding, venture capital, IPOs and how Blockchain Laws of Liechtenstein are setting new legal standards to empower the crypto industry as a whole.  

In this episode with Dominic Briggs and Laurenz Apiarius, we discuss the VC perspective on what Blockchain investors look for when investing in startups. We deep dive into the issue of blockchain being treated as a trend or a buzzword for fundraising and how VCs asses the need for blockchain for different startups. We talk about the importance of the technology and the business model, the due diligence process and different types of fundraising mechanisms like ICO, STO, VC. Furthermore, Dominic and Laurenz share their views on their investment thesis, primary evaluation criteria and how they are valuating the blockchain ecosystem investments. ___ Dominic Briggs -General Partner at Blockwall Management GmbH Laurenz Apiarius - Managing Partner at Blockwall Management GmbH Blockwall Management GmbH is the first German BaFin-registered Blockchain Venture Capital fund. They provide investors with the unique opportunity to participate in the emergence of decentralized technologies and their applications.  

Tobias Schulz is an Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds, Pre-ICO Venture Capital Investor and ICO Advisor. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With EUR 892.5 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge 500 start-ups since 2005.  In this episode of Unbloqed, Tobias gives us a brief introduction to HTGF as one of the largest seed funds in Germany. We discuss the importance of the development of blockchain ecosystem, their approach to the crypto market, the benefits of tokenization of assets and the perspectives on what the future of tokenization may hold. We are also thrilled to announce that Iconiq lab is closing the funding rounds with two of the biggest Venture investors in Germany Finlab and High-Tech Gründerfonds. For more information about HTGF check out the website and make sure you share the podcast with anyone you think might benefit from the information. https://high-tech-gruenderfonds.de/en/

Episode N12 Topl is building the technology to more effectively link $9 trillion in investment demand to target opportunities throughout high potential emerging markets while blending socially motivated capital with traditional investment to provide better returns and increased impact. In this episode with Chris we talk about some updates from Topl, discuss the external real word transactions carried out in the Topl blockchain, reviewed already launched and the upcoming projects, Topl's first app studio and the future hires. For more information about Topl check out the website and make sure you share the podcast with anyone you think might benefit from the information.  https://topl.co/

Episode N 11 Jose Macedo is the Head of Advisory at Amazix. Blockchain investor and analyst with a focus on token economics. Award winning entrepreneur and cofounder at Kitchpack (now acquired), Kaizen Academy and CFPalace. Former poker pro! AmaZix is the leading provider of community management services for crypto projects. It specializes in helping projects running on the Ethereum blockchain, especially those building up to their ICOs. In our conversation with Jose, we talked about his background and how he got involved in blockchain, about AmaZix and its services including tokenomics audit, white paper writing, etc..  We discussed the take away lessons and best practices on community management and community engagement, deep dived into the problems connected with token models and the importance of the economics of the token models.

Maria McKavanagh is the Chief Operating Officer of Verv and is currently running the VLUX token generation event. She is a keynote speaker and an advocate of Women in Tech. Verv is an intelligent IoT hub which uses patented AI technology to analyse electricity data and appliance usage in the home straight from the mains, unlocking unique insights and creating new smart home experiences for consumers. In our conversation with Maria, we talked about her background, the idea and the product developed by the Verv team, the USP of the VERV device and the milestones archived to date. We dwelled on the benefits of p2p energy networks, the advantages of putting the platform into the blockchain and her perspectives on what the future of energy can hold. Verv recently raised £516,550 in an ongoing crowdfunding round on https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/verv/pitches/bvG8rq We congratulate the team and wish them all the very best!  

Episode N 9 Raj Uttamchandani- Executive Director at Trade Finance Market Founded in 2015 Trade Finance Market utilizes technology to help global SMEs raise trade finance after the 2008 banking crisis. Raj plays an integral part in identifying legacy systems that can be made more efficient through the use of technology and the blockchain.  In this episode with Raj we talk about the specific use case of blockchain within the ecosystem of Trade Finance Market and the value that the technology brings from a transparency standpoint. We discussed TFM token sale details and the use case and the advantages of it. The discussion also dwelled on his outlook on the blockchain space and the future of crypto for 2019.

 Arifa Khan is Indian Partner of the Ethereum Foundation. She has been researching the blockchain space since 2015 and is currently leading the efforts to build a ground-breaking decentralized solution for Capital markets (DGCAMP) as the Founder and CEO of Himalaya Labs, which she considers her most inspired and important work to date.  In our conversation with Arifa, we discussed how she got involved with blockchain, her background, technical aspects of blockchain, the development of the Ethereum community in India, and the new upcoming ICO of Himalaya Labs. We spoke about the origin of security tokens, its advantages in terms of capital raise, we deep dived into why the companies would want to launch a security token instead of doing an IPO, the biggest challenges in the market hindering the development of the security tokens and how these issues are being solved.

Episode N 7 Aleks Bozhinov- Co-founder of Crowdholding Former Google Business Manager, serial entrepreneur & business coach. In the past, Aleks co-founded For Sale! & Aquajar as well as helped hundreds of businesses be successful online. Aleks is a keynote speaker at numerous blockchain events. Crowdholding is an open innovation platform where the community and businesses meet to innovate and solve business challenges. The community gets early access to products and influences the development, creating products people actually want. In this episode with Aleks we talk about the concept behind Crowdholding, its USP in its provided services and the inputs companies receive on the platform. We discuss how the projects get exposure in the platform, how do the projects deal with the market situation, the best methods of communication with the audience, numerous options that can help businesses in different stages and the importance of transparency on the sphere.

Episode N 6 Andy Toth- Investment Director at PLUGandPLAY and Co-founder at Startup Autobahn PLUGandPLAY is the ultimate innovation platform, bringing together the best startups and the world's largest corporations. In our conversation with Andy we discuss the idea behind PLUGandPLAY, how the company empowers startups not only giving capital but also finding new customers and new partners, the experience in the Blockchain space, its investment model, and the value-adds the company brings. We talk about how Andy got started in venture space and his perspectives on what the future of cryptocurrencies can hold.