Promoting Berlin as the Blockchain Capital of the World
At innogy Innovation Hub, we believe machines will be integral to the energy system of the future — a future that is decentralised, driven by autonomous systems and focused on machine-to-machine interactions, with new protocols, distributed ledger technology and tokenized digital and physical assets.
“Let’s assume a self owning car. A car that pays for its lease, its insurance and its electricity, by giving people rides. A car that is a shareholder and owner of its own corporation. This has never happened before and that’s just the beginning.”
Andreas M. Antonopulos: “Mastering Bitcoin”
In preparation for this machine-powered economy serving real people, we have strengthened our position in Berlin. The German capital, already a thriving start-up hub, is also an epicentre for the development of blockchain technologies. Home to over 100 blockchain start-ups — and growing — Berlin is often dubbed the crypto capital of Europe.
As a new member of BerChain, we are excited to further support the networking drive of the Berlin blockchain scene.
BerChain is an association for connecting and promoting the Berlin community inside and outside the blockchain ecosystem to position the city as the blockchain capital of the world.
“innogy Innovation Hub joined BerChain because we believe in the power of ecosystem building and networking — especially in such a fragmented market as blockchain. As early stage venture capital arm of innogy we have access to new startups and can introduce our existing blockchain portfolio companies to the market. That’s a win-win situation!”
Since its inception, blockchain — the distributed ledger software behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin — has drawn sceptics. But in today’s digital world, the ever-important need for greater business efficiency, transparency and security means interest in the technology is rife. As we build the blocks for a decentralised world, global blockchain spending is projected to account for almost $2.9 billion in 2019, up 88.7% from 2018, according to a report from US-based market research firm International Data Corporation. A 2015 World Economic Forum report predicted that by the year of 2025, 10% of GDP will be converted and stored on blockchain or blockchain-related technology.
With a portfolio of nine blockchain companies, including two pure-token investments, innogy Innovation Hub is the largest institutional blockchain venture capital firm in Europe.
Our investments in the field include:
Energy Web Foundation — has developed an enterprise-grade blockchain platform tailored to the sector’s regulatory, operational and market needs together with over 100 Affiliate Members.
BigchainBD — is a database with blockchain characteristics that supports high throughput and powerful query functionalities.
Neufund — a community-owned platform that aims to revolutionise the fundraising mechanism. Through the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts, start-ups can tokenise their equity on the Neufund platform and become publicly tradable.
Share & Charge — a provider of open and interoperable infrastructure for electric vehicle charging poles.
Cryptowerk — delivers an enterprise grade data integrity solution that leverages the distributed power of blockchains to seal, verify and exchange trusted data at massive scale.
Scantrust — provides a smart packaging solution for product authentication, supply chain traceability and consumer engagement.
Polkadot — is a bridge technology that provides interoperability between blockchains and it introduces “pooled security” where multiple chains are secured by Polkadot’s validators.
Solidified — is the largest audit platform for smart contracts.
Fractal — is a provider of global KYC/AML for the Web 3 and the financial industry.
innogy Innovation Hub is one of 17 new members of BerChain — the other new additions include Deutsche Telekom, Aeternity and Factory Berlin. The association, which regularly organises workshops, seminars and networking events, now counts a total of 28 supporters.
“The Blockchain landscape in Berlin is diverse but also very fragmented. More than 100 companies in Berlin are exploring the technology and its potential. This makes the technological progress as well as the connection to politics, investors and academia more difficult. BerChain’s mission is to bring together the many isolated players and thus create new synergies — within and outside the blockchain ecosystem. This is how we want to continue positioning Berlin as a leading blockchain hub in the long run.”
As part of Berchain’s membership, we will have a unique platform from which to further tap into the huge potential of blockchain, working with investors, scientists, politicians and other companies to jointly investigate potential fields of application for the technology in business and politics, and ultimately to accelerate its development.
