In my previous article, I provided an introductory review of ShareRing, and why I believe it has the potential to become a huge player in the sharing economy. In this article I delve a little deeper into why I have come to that conclusion, by taking a look at ShareRing’s impressive list of collaborators.
According to the their white paper, ShareRing was born out of Keaz. Keaz was established in 2013 and is a global leader in white-label car sharing solutions, meaning their platform is used by many different companies throughout the world (currently deployed in 300 locations). They have offices in Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, United States, New Zealand and plan to expand into Europe in 2018. The KeazACCESS technology is a powerful cloud-delivered ecosystem enabling all types of users (from governments and corporations down to individuals) to share and digitally access assets. Thanks to blockchain technology, the initial vision of the Keaz founders of creating a truly global sharing economy is now within reach. To achieve this vision, they will be injecting years of sharing economy experience and know-how into ShareRing, in addition to registered intellectual property from the existing KeazACCESS framework.
BYD are one of ShareRing’s technology partners. They are the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer and have been labeled as “China’s answer to Tesla”. They also have the backing of Warren Buffett. According to ShareRing co-founder and CEO Tim Bos, ShareRing are working with BYD automotive division to interface with their in-vehicle sensors, to assist with one of the building blocks of the blockchain being developed (IOT integration). One of the functions of the smart contracts is to use the oracles to query external devices to validate the status of an asset. This is quite important for the sharing of physical assets, as knowing the device’s status (e.g. its location or whether it is being used) at any time allows for more efficient management — something ShareRing’s customers will most likely benefit from.
Yoogo Share is New Zealand’s first (and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest) fully electric car sharing business. They have the support of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who officially launched the business in Christchurch in February this year. Yoogo Share are currently using the Keaz car sharing system and likely looking to team up with ShareRing to get their services running on the blockchain. They are an extremely forward-thinking business that is sure to gain a lot of traction within New Zealand — a country that focuses heavily on environmental sustainability. Their likely adoption of blockchain technology will be a big plus for ShareRing.
DJI is the world’s leader in the civilian drone and aerial imaging technology industry, accounting for 85% of the global consumer drone market. Its drone technology has been used globally for the music, television and film industries, including K-pop music videos and the sets of Emmy Award-nominated television productions such as The Amazing Race, American Ninja Warrior, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, and many more (source). In the May 9 ShareRing AMA, ShareRing co-founder and CEO Tim Bos stated that DJI has put ShareRing in touch with some of their primary distributors to work with them on usage cases for rental drones, such as those being rented to corporations and governments, or to consumers and at trade shows. As a global leader in their field and boasting several other big partnerships (such as with Microsoft), this is a partnership likely to open many doors for ShareRing.
ShareRing recently announced that they have joined MOBI (the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative). According to their website, MOBI is a “nonprofit organization working with forward thinking companies, governments, and NGOs to make mobility services more efficient, affordable, greener, safer, and less congested by promoting standards and accelerating adoption of blockchain, distributed ledger, and related technologies”. ShareRing joins other big name organisations such as BMW, Bosch, IOTA and VeChain as collaborators. Initially, ShareRing will be working with MOBI on projects related to car sharing and ride hailing, and also in a number of other areas. Being a member of MOBI will help ensure ShareRing remains at the forefront of blockchain innovation, standards and adoption, while also providing opportunities for additional collaboration/partnerships with the other MOBI members.
According to ShareRing co-founder and CEO Tim Bos (May 8 AMA), Double Peak is an investor and is also providing assistance to ShareRing. According to their website, Double Peak employs a bottom-up approach to digital asset selection, based on their value investing philosophy and focus on fundamental research. They also boast an experienced on-ground research capability. Further information was not available at the time of writing.
Crypto Asset Management were a presale investor in ShareRing. They are the largest crypto investment fund in the United States. Their expert team possesses years of experience in cryptocurrency investing and also regular investing. Due to their size and strong reputation, CAM receives around 12 emails a day from new companies planning on launching crypto tokens to raise capital. CAM have stated that they invest in less than 1% of ICOs that come across their desk. In order to determine if an ICO is of the highest possible quality (and thus worthy of investment by CAM), they have developed an analytical framework for evaluating ICOs, known as the Seven Pillars of ICO Investing. Briefly, these seven pillars include: the project team, idea, execution, legal/regulatory, tokenization, ICO structure and place drivers. It’s likely that if an ICO falls short in even one of these criteria, CAM will not pursue investment in it. The fact that ShareRing was selected by CAM is testament to the quality and professionalism of the ShareRing project and team.
According to their website, RAMP Enterprises offers full turn key ICO solutions whether it is in a concept stage or further advanced. ShareRing co-founder and CEO Tim Bos stated in the May 9 AMA that RAMP Enterprises is providing ShareRing with advisory, book building and some investment. Book building refers to the act of creating a book of potential investors for a fund or project, and among other things is essential for ensuring strategic partners have access at the correct sale tiers. RAMP Enterprises claim to possess a wealth of experience and a 40 strong team, with locations in London, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
GTI Holdings Limited, formerly Addchance Holdings Limited, is an investment holding company principally engaged in the production and sale of knitted sweaters (source). According to ShareRing co-founder and CEO Tim Bos (May 9 AMA), GTI Holdings have recently pivoted from clothing to transform into a tech company (apparently there’s a trend in Hong Kong for companies to do this), with a focus on the sharing economy and big data. According to Tim, ShareRing’s partnership with them is highly strategic, as they (and their chairman) have a broad range of contacts in Hong Kong and China that will help ShareRing grow its footprint in both countries. GTI Holdings are also working closely with Huawei and a number of other tech companies on a few big data projects. Tim also stated he is “also going to be acting as an advisor to their board to help them broaden their skills in the sharing economy”. I am quite bullish on projects with any connections to China, as in addition to putting a lot of effort into big data and technology in general, the speed of innovation and development there is extremely high.
In summary, ShareRing is definitely making all the right connections in order to secure their place at the top of the sharing economy ecosystem. Their global reach in particular is impressive, in countries that are very likely to experience an explosion in the growth of sharing ecosystems.
My next article will explain how ShareRing’s startup incubation system will help the ShareRing platform grow and attract interest from investors.
You can follow ShareRing’s progress on their Facebook page or chat with the team directly in their Telegram channel.
