End of 2019: Updates from æ Starfleet alumni
The Blockchain development in various industries by some of our investees
We are about to say goodbye to 2019 with nostalgia.
However, when it comes to the achievements of our Starfleet alumni I can’t help but use the two most suitable words for the past year — SMASHING and EXCITING.
Read why in the following article.
In 2019, there was much going on around the Croatian AMPnet — the white-label, all-in-one platform for running energy cooperatives and energy communities.
The project registered its first revenue, managed to launch on æternity Mainnet with ZSES, entirely completed the crowdfunding platform’s development, and won first place in the startup competition at Shift Money conference. Moreover, the team closed an investment with InnoEnergy and designed a pipeline of clients to launch with after beta test.
But what’s most impressive from all the achievements is the partnership with Greenpeace. The deal between AMPnet and the largest ecological organization worldwide is already finalized, the branding is complete, and legal actions are taken for the opening of a foundation in the Netherlands.
For those of you, fellow readers, who haven’t heard — Greenpeace will use AMPnet’s crowdfunding platform to help fund renewable energy power plants around the world. Isn’t it amazing?
In 2020, the AMPnet team has plans to complete the development of the retail electricity platform and the IoT integration which’s already originated.
As the majority possibly remember, the open marketplace for ground station capacity and data storage based on smart contracts, HomePort, is one of the 4 winners in Starfleet vol.2.
After the end of the accelerator program in April 2019, the team had intensive months of hard work…and already tons of things achieved to brag with!
During this year, they’ve built up all the elements of Hydrogen, the alpha version which includes æternity smart contracts and real-time contract formulation and agreement between users on the network.
The plans for the upcoming 2020 involve the launch of both beta and production versions and the start of commercial operations. Beta development will be upgrading on Hydrogen by taking into account user feedback, as well as integrating new conventional and æternity features. Further, the focus will be on expanding the number of ground stations operating on our network, as well as satellite constellations — particularly in the IoT segment.
And that’s not all! The team plans to draw laser communication terminals to HomePort — a radically new, flexible way of communicating with satellites that offer high data rates and much lighter overhead as these terminals are outside cumbersome frequency allocation regimes.
Lastly, when it comes to business development, the core team plans to grow by hiring new talents to manage the marketing and legal matters in communications.
Below you see an incoming image from the International Space Station (ISS) in Mode V — SSTV Imaging (145.800 MHz). The picture clearly shows what it is — the crew of the station has fun and congratulates the coming New Year
:)
Here is a capture from the NOAA 19 weather satellite with our HomePort’s ground receiver:
CryptoTask, gaining popularity as the Upwork on Blockchain, is another winner of the second edition of our Starfleet accelerator program. These guys simply don’t stop making us proud!
In 2019, they launched on æternity Mainnet and, also, acquired freelance.hr, one of the biggest online freelancing marketplaces in Eastern Europe, with over 20 000 active users which instantly makes them the largest blockchain-powered freelancing platform worldwide.
Meanwhile, the team expanded with 4 new members, devs and growth hackers.
The ultimate goal for the next year is to reach at least 100 000 users and become profitable.
In the first part of 2020, the team aims to introduce escrow payments and job listing fees, as well as to build the reputation and user review system. For such exhaustive work, The CEO Ivan Nanut mentioned they plan to onboard at least 10 extra people, 50% growth hackers, 50% developers.
WeiDex, the Blockchain Agnostic dApp Ecosystem for Exchanges, can easily boast with a triumphant year as well.
Let’s start from the hottest news — the company released weiDex v2.0 which is coming with tons of cool stuff, such as:
- renewed smart contracts to Ethereum’s latest version
- improved UI design
- Referral link program
- incentives for the Market Makers (meaning there are no fees for placing orders; a 50% reward from the Taker’s fee)
- a “Submit Feedback”
Furthermore, Jelly Swap, underlying on the successful formula for peer-to-peer transactions between different blockchains, has launched on the testnet.
This is a great opportunity to expand the DeFi space by bringing all kinds of assets to it.
When it comes to upcoming events, it is essential to mention the WeiDex is about to launch on Mainnet on the 17th of January 2020.
Read more details about the project’s 2019 achievements here.
Do you guys remember the Starfleet alumni, Cryptic Legends, the exciting hero management game set in an ancient fantasy world in which players are trading and collecting heroes, configuring their skills and items, matching them in teams of four and using them in automatic battles against other players?
The project that has recently become a member of the Serbian Games Association, launched closed Beta on the 9th of December 2019 when 100 players had the chance to test on both Android and IOS.
Fancy to be one of the second batch of testers? Then APPLY HERE.
For the record, the Kenyan-based RideSafe is the first-time Blockchain application offering real-time Emergency Response solutions to the public motorbike sector in the event of an accident.
The team just delivered some agreeable news from the second half of 2019. To start, they are done building the RideSafe app (for both Android and IOS) in September and managed to launch it in the last week of November.
Additionally, the Motorbike Riding Association (with over 100 000 riders) and the Medical Centers Association are officially trusted partners of this Starfleet alumni.
In the upcoming 2020, RideSafe is going to The Internet of Things (IoT) because, in the end, what the team intends is to provide an end-to-end solution and mount an advanced senses impact device in the motorbikes that can track your location, connect with fast responders even if the rider is unconscious, etc. Isn’t it super cool especially in a country where the volume of accidents on the road is severely increasing?
The team of Abend, the cashless on-site payments platform whose prototype is already running on æternity blockchain, also has delightful updates to share for the leaving 2019.
Short and sweet, they’ve managed to test their new smart contract for distribution of revenue as well as the payment systems with wristbands including offline functionality with more than 1000 people at concerts.
Lastly, the plans for 2020 include beta testing in multiple venues and the launch of the full solution in summer 2020. Hooray!
Check out the video from the Alpha testing here.
And what about the Wristband test, you may ask? Find the short video here.
We’ll conclude with UTU — the pan-African AI and blockchain technology company with proprietary innovations in the fields of machine learning for trust and distributed multi-agent systems.
The list of milestones reached is too long, but let me outline the most significant ones!
To start, UTU extended their trust infrastructure’s capabilities into decentralized and centralized financial services, home services, insurance, telecoms, and local on-demand services.
Moreover, the team secured two Utility Models (10-year IP protection) for the core technology of UTU and expanded their waiting list to more than 30 companies across more than 15 countries on 4 continents for access.
Additionally, UTU’s co-working space — the premier space for AI and Blockchain in Nairobi, has already opened doors.
Along with all of that, the core team managed to tie up with important partners, such as GrayChain, KODI, Skuli, RideSafe Africa, BitLipa, and AIFluence. They are about to sign up with TechnoBrain at the beginning of 2020.
Let’s wish these tireless guys the best of luck in 2020!
