What has happened: our update from æternity Universe One conference
Flashy and avid with our new visual identity and website, the core team of AE Ventures is coming up with a bunch of super exciting news announced from the stage of the conference!
The first edition of the æternity Universe One conference, which took place in groovy Prague on the 20–21 September and if you ask us, it was a massive success.
Two days filled with workshops, speeches, great networking opportunities and much more!
The key focus on this gathering of industry experts and enthusiasts was on bridging the gap between what businesses need and what blockchain technology can offer.
Further, the venue, Paralelni Polis, hasn’t been chosen by accident. It is well-known in the crypto area for being the birthplace for the Hackers Congress and the Institute of Cryptoanarchy.
Our AE Ventures team raised the level of excitement since the very first moments of the event with the speech of Nikola Stojanow, CEO, and Luka Sučić, Head of Starfleet. Here are the major takeaways:
The third Starfleet edition is on its way
To start with, Nikola used the chance to announce the opening of the application window for the third Starfleet Accelerator, planned to commence on 4 November 2019. What’s more surprising — it will be held in Malta — one of the hottest crypto spots right now.
There, we will be closely partnering with the Microsoft Innovation Center on the island. Also, our new member of the team, Jarek Bialek, who’s in charge in Malta, has lined-up some other amazing partners (and we’ll make sure to share them with you in the following weeks).
The deadline for applying in Starfleet is the 20th of October 2019!
So, if you have a blockchain startup and are looking for funding to bring it to the next level, hurry up! :)
Our mission for 2020 and beyond
The second exciting announcement is that our acceleration program is finally stepping up beyond the ocean and goes global. Can you guess which will be the location? Let us aid you — Starfleet India is planned to be launched in January 2020 and the application window to be open on November 2019.
Moreover, it is a kickoff for æternity HUB India with our trustworthy partners, IBC Media.
Besides, as we’re unstoppable in our mission to support promising blockchain startups and thus, to advance the industry expansion, it is now official that we are switching from 2 global acceleration programs per year to 4 Starfleet editions annually.
Let us now brag a bit how proud we are with the Starfleet alumni! :)
AMPnet
We can’t start our alumni update with anyone else but AMPnet, the full-stack, white-label tool for energy cooperatives.
During his speech, Mislav Javor, CEO, made a zestful announcement — a partnership with Greenpeace! Yes, your eyes don’t lie to you! The biggest non-governmental environmental organization in the world will be using their platform to fund all of their EU-based renewable energy projects and potentially, once scaled, also in the US and the rest of the world!
Additionally, Mislav revealed the name of the new platform — Earthboost and displayed the first visuals and they look 100% stunning!
We couldn’t be any more proud of the success of AMPnet and the hard work their team is putting into the project!
UTU
The amazing UTU Technologies is focused on how do we bridge the gap between the way we trust in real life and how we’re asked to trust online.
The team, which has started as a taxi app in Kenya, back in 2013, realized the massive issue of trust that wanders in Africa. UTU also labeled the tokenization of trust as the key solution.
Getting back to the point, the company has had an incredible 2019 on all fronts.
UTU’s CEO, Jason Eisen, made an electrifying announcement from the stage — they are about to do an IDO on Binance DEX. Thus, it will be the first African project to do so.
UTU’s key focus right now is to go mainstream and bring more clients on board…and we wish them the best of luck!
Cryptotask
You surely remember Cryptotask — one of the winners at Starfleet 2 that has spurred the long-awaited freelancing revolution thanks to their user-friendly, decentralized freelancing task marketplace.
They’ve been working pretty hard since the end of the acceleration program and expanded the Cryptotask team with a few more developers and UI designers.
During his conference speech, the CEO, Ivan Nanut, announced that the company has acquired the biggest freelancer market in South-Eastern Europe (www.freelance.hr) with over 15 000 active users. Therefore, Cryptotask is now the largest blockchain-powered freelance market in the entire world! You can test the platform here: dev.cryptotask.org and leave feedback to the guys so you can help them improve!
Abend
Tim Betzin, CEO of Abend, the cashless on-site payment platform based on æternity blockchain, also conquered the stage during æternity Universe One conference.
The startup focused on bringing back the trust to the payment industry, has already about 4000 partners for ticketing and marketing.
Further, the platform is planned to run online and partly offline but what differentiates it from the other players on the market is 1) the fast, highly securable & verifiable transactions and 2) the transparent distributions of shares between all partners. All allowed thanks to the underlying disruptive technology!
Hot news: at the end of August, Abend organized a secret concert within 2 bars in Germany with about 450 random users who were asked to make payments through the platform. Outcomes: loads of fun and vital inference about required improvements.
TraDEXsocial
In the overview of the Starfleet alumni’s progress, here is the TraDEXsocial turn.
According to the CEO, Yulian Asparuhoff, the blockchain startup, part of the very first batch of the accelerator, aims to reduce the barriers to cryptocurrency adoption.
Exciting news: the guys already have their project’s alpha-version live and plan to add some extra features in the next weeks. We are calling all the enthusiasts out there: you can now alpha test the product at www.tradexsocial.com and please do not forget to send your valuable feedback at info@tradexsocial.com. Additionally, the full alpha product is about to be launched in October 2019.
Meanwhile, the guys managed to organize several marketing and business development workshops, to recreate a second, more solid version of their marketing strategy, as well as to prepare a list of traditional VC funds they are currently approaching. This we call a work spirit!
WeiDEX
Tito Titov, CEO of WeiDEX — the fully-functional platform for multichain decentralized trading, also took part in the two-day conference in Prague.
Outlining the benefits of P2P trading during his speech, Tito proved their WeiDEX has real usage by showing some pretty exciting figures — the total value locked on the platform is reaching $545M. Also, more and more tokens are being listed there regularly.
Last but not least, the guys are currently closing a deal with a Singaporean investor (and we’re dying to know more about it once it’s secured).
ReCheck
The Recheck team dived into the blockchain ocean about 3 years ago which makes their product an industry’s pioneer in Southeastern Europe.
ReCheck is offering a secure document exchange based on blockchain.
Therefore, the project, that’s now working on æternity test net, provides a long list of use cases (i.e. compliance, workflow optimization, digital ID, risk limitation, digital contracts management and more) for several industries.
Emiliyan Enev, CEO of Recheck, revealed from the stage that they are currently developing a significant project in partnership with a German company that provides a social network for innovations.
Big news: We, at AE Ventures, will officially start using the ReCheck solution for all kind of document signings.
YAIR
The Berlin-based YAIR, a hero from the first batch of Starfleet program, aims to capture and harness the value of art, including world-class artists, galleries, collectors, through tokenizing existing media artwork and installations.
They have been crazy months for the YAIR team, according to Maximilian Schneider.
Recently, they organized a huge exhibition during Art Electronica in Linz, Austria to provide a quick start for several talents. Moreover, loads of artists from Asia and other continents have been invited to participate.
And what’s super cool: there are already about 45 artists registered on the YAIR platform and over 60 000 EUR of artwork IP on the blockchain sold so far.
RideSafe
All eyes on RideSafe — the blockchain app that offers real-time healthcare solution for motorcyclists in Kenya. The project was initially created as a first-aid program that teaches riders how to handle themselves and any other injured person during the so-frequent motorbike accidents.
According to Benson Mugisha, CEO of RideSafe, the blockchain technology can bring the gap between the fast respondents and the drivers in Kenya, meaning the money won’t be paid until a quality service is being delivered.
The team, who worked hard on testing the app with real riders and getting it done, is currently arranging the storage of sensitive data for reference.
Finally, their list of partners — mainly medical centers and African health organizations, is expanding and we couldn’t be more proud! The RideSafe app is available on Google Play Store — click here.
HomePort
HomePort is one of the Starfleet 2 winners and a spinoff product of SAT-1 Initiative, a Bulgarian space technology NGO, established 2 years ago.
The promising startup, that is now near to the full completion of the backend part, presents an open marketplace for ground station capacity and data storage based on smart contracts. It’s all about contracting otherwise the super expensive ground stations and use their idle capacity.
At the end of his speech, Zdravko Dimitrov, CEO of Homeport, displayed a small prototype to showcase how does HomePort function…image how excited were we in the audience!
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Last, the team is now discussing a possible collaboration with Neterra, an independent telecom operator.
Cryptic Legends
Cryptic Legends, the hero management, battle simulation game set in an ancient fantasy world, is proof of how diverse and rich is our accelerator portfolio. :)
Nemanja Avramović, CEO, came upon the conference stage to give us a quick update on what have the guys been up to lately.
News: To start with, Cryptic Legends has recently become a member of the Serbian Game Association. Meanwhile, the UI design concept is crystal clear, and the story and drawings are in progress.
Besides this, what’s a true sign of success, the Cryptic Legends team is expanding and already welcomed a content writer and a Unity Developer.
According to Nemanja, the core ingredients they’ve agreed to stick to, are trading, team management, serious fantasy, and character progression.
At the end of his speech, he surprised us by revealing a mockup from the mobile game and, trust us, they look AWESOME!
You can join their Discord channel and check the newest updates here: https://discord.gg/hSQjmxJ
Data2Honey
Proud to say, our Starfleet alumni, Data2Honey, is the first true end-to-end, turn-key ready, user-friendly solution for Internet of Things (IoT) data providers as well as IoT Data consumers.
During his speech, Gregor Storman, CEO, explained that they’re building identical thing as UBER and Airbnb, but with a different, intangible asset — data, meaning, they provide a marketplace where you can rent this data without losing your privacy. Isn’t this genius?
Besides, the D2H team pitched in front of Malta enterprise and, currently, waiting to know if they’ll get funding or not.
Last but not least, the guys are already working with the largest, state-owned health insurance company in Slovenia.
The exciting news isn’t over!
Believe it or not but we’ve got 2 more things to share with you! :)
One: Apollo Omer, the CEO of æternity Hub Africa flew straight from Africa to make a brief update on what’s going on there.
The guys’ key mission is to showcase and demonstrate the disruptive potential of æternity blockchain. Moreover, they’re building and trying to expand a thriving, self-sustaining network of industry’s developers, enthusiasts, investors in Africa.
Thus, æternity Hub Africa developed BitPal — a platform that allows vendors, merchants, and service providers to accept payments in digital currencies.
And…two: our beloved podcast “Blockchain from the Bloc(k)” was renewed for another season and it’s is coming next week! Hooray!
Stay tuned as the first episode was recorded live today during the conference. Save the date 27 September!
